Celebrate White Day at EHT from March 11th to 14th!
While many countries celebrate love on Valentine's Day, Japan has a second day for all couples: White Day.
To understand White Day, one must first understand Valentine's Day as it is celebrated in Japan. On February 14th, girls and women give chocolates to the boys or men of their choice, as a way of confessing their love. Often handmade, to show true love for the person they are intended for, those chocolates are called 本命チョコ (honmei-choco). But 本命チョコ are not the only chocolates gifted on Valentine's Day. There exist three other types of Valentine's chocolates:
- 義理チョコ (giri-choco), or "obligation chocolates", given to co-workers and aquaintances
- 友チョコ (tomo-choco, short for tomodachi-choco), or "friend chocolates", given, you guessed it, to one's friends
- 俺チョコ (ore-choco): a new trend, they are chocolates that one gifts oneself
A tradition started by the Japanese National Confectionary Industry Association in the 1970, White day is an "answer day" to Valentine's Day. On March 14th, boys and men generally give cookies to the girls and women from whom they received chocolates a month earlier. According to the kind of chocolates received, the cookies given can imply that romantic feelings are reciprocated, or simply express a social obligation to return a gift.
Cookies, like chocolate, always make a great gift, but how about trying something special this year? For a unique White Day, take the women in your lives to Escape Hunt Tokyo and experience a new kind of games! Our live games will take you back in time for three different Japanese missions: complete your Zen training, save the Shogun and your honor as a Samurai, or discover what happened to our disappeared Bride. And to celebrate this special occasion with you, we will hide treats in our game rooms just for you!
Give back to the women in your lives for White Day, with Escape Hunt Tokyo!
Spring break is coming!
For students in Japan, Spring Break is a very anticipated holiday: after a year of waking up early for classes, learning so many different things and participating in extra-curricular activities, it is finally time for a break free of the stress of exams and homework!
And for many, it also means graduation: a day that celebrates one's achievements and hard work, before the beginning of something new.
For all these reasons, Spring Break, or 春休み (read haru yasumi) is the perfect opportunity to try something new and different. Some university students, who enjoy longer holidays, will take advantage of their free time to prepare their future - it's the time for doing internships, arubaito (Japanese part-time jobs), or trying to get a driver's licence - while others will celebrate graduation by enjoying a 卒業旅行 (graduation trip) abroad with friends.
For younger students and teachers, who enjoy a shorter break, there are luckily plenty of things to do around Tokyo in this season. For example, we know for a fact that Tokyo Disney Resort will be absolutely packed (but really, when is it not?), and the capital's popular landmarks, like the famous Meiji Jingu, the Tokyo Tower and Sky Tree, or the Ueno zoo, are likely to be very crowded. So why not try avoiding the crowd and doing something different? You could have a drink in one of the numerous themed cafes of the city, enjoy an amaizing vew of the Rainbow Bridge from Odaiba, or try a unique and challenging experience at Escape Hunt Tokyo!
Located 250 metres only from Kaminari-mon, our game rooms are close to the bustling central area of Asakusa, and yet conveniently away from the crowd.
Come with your friends, and try to solve a mystery taking place in traditional Japan under 60 minutes!
Escape from an ordinary Spring Break with Escape Hunt Tokyo!
EHT celebrates young girls for Hina Matsuri!
Every year in early March, Japan celebrates Hina Matsuri, a very special day dedicated to young girls.
A few days before Hina Matsuri, families with daughters install in their living room a platform of different stages covered with a red carpet, where a set of dolls representing the Emperor, the Empress, attendants and musicians are displayed. Often handmade by very famous artists, the dolls wear traditional court dresses of the Japanese Heian period, and can be very expensive. For this reason, it is not uncommon for the sets to be passed down several generation of a family, from great-grandmothers to great-granddaughters.
Originally, on the day of the celebration, families would go to the temple to pray for their daughters to grow strong and healthy, but nowadays, people more often gather to have a nice family dinner and sometimes give present for the young girls in the family.
At Escape Hunt Tokyo, we believe in empowering our young girls and helping them build self-confidence to give them the best start in their lives. Our games, accessible from 7 years-old and up, are the perfect mix for an exciting and educational family activity: for an hour, join your young detectives who have the opportunity to test their deduction skills and solve a mystery, all the while discovering a unique story taking place in traditionnal Japan!
From Saturday February 25th until Friday March 3rd, enjoy our Hina Matsuri event!
Will you find the Hina dolls we have hidden in our rooms? After the game, take a memorable picture together, and relax while enjoying some refreshments: we will offer you drinks and Hina Arare, a colourful rice snack treat that is shared on this particular day.
Whether it is your daughter, granddaughter, sister or niece, our escape games will make for an original surprise for the young girls of any age in your family.
Come to Escape Hunt Tokyo, and share something special on Hina Matsuri!
Japan launches the Premium Friday!
If you live and work in Japan, you must be aware of the country's long working hours. Large amounts of monthly overtime is a common thing, and it is not rare for Japanese workers to only take half of their paid leaves entitlements, which has long been an issue.
But here is the good news: this February 24th, the government, along with some business groups, will launch the Premium Friday campaign. In an attempt to curb the country's long work hours and boost consumption, it has decided to let workers leave at 3pm on the last Friday of every month, to start their weekend earlier than ever.
So far, the number of companies that will participate in the campaign is still unknown, but you might very well be among the lucky ones to start their last weekend of the month earlier! And if this is the case, how will you spend this extra free time? Among the obvious answers are shopping, of course, but also travelling, and for those who cannot go too far, fun and exciting activities such as our Escape Games!
Come and share an hour of fun with you colleagues, friends or family: solve puzzles and riddles, escape from our rooms, and have the rest of your weekend to enjoy with the people you love!
Looking forward to the Tokyo Marathon 2017!
For many runners in Japan, the Tokyo Marathon is THE event of the year.
Dating back to 1981, the Tokyo Marathon originally consisted of two separate events: the Tokyo International Marathon, which took place in even-numbered years, and the Tokyo - New York Friendship International Marathon, which took place on odd-numbered years.
In 2007, those two events were combined into one, to become the Tokyo Marathon as we know it today. Taking place at the end of February, it is one of the six World Marathon Majors (along with the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City Marathons), and gathers thousands of participants each year from all around the world.
This year's Marathon will be different, however, as the organizers have decided to modify the course for a more symbolic and impressive finish line: instead of ending at Tokyo Big Sight as years past, the race will now finish at Tokyo Station's Gyoko-dori, with the participants running in front of the Imperial Palace for the last stretch. One thing that hasn't changed though, is that the course will still run through Tokyo's traditional Asakusa, and of course, we'll be there, waiting for you!
If you plan on going out in the streets to watch the Marathon live, you might be among the ones who will be at Asakusa's famous Kaminari-mon on this February 26th. And while you are waiting to cheer and support the runners during the race, why not visit us and share a unique experience with your partner, family, friends or colleagues?
Located within a 5-minute-walk from Kaminari-mon, our game rooms are full of well-thought-out puzzles that will tease your brain and test your detective skills: for an hour, get locked in a room with your team, and try to solve a mystery and escape before your time is up! Complete a last mission given by your Zen Master, save the Shogun from an imminent assassination, or discover what happened to our disappeared Bride...
After the experience, enjoy some light refreshments. Cross your own finish line before getting back to Kaminarimon in time to cheer for more runners!
Will you be our Valentines?
From Saturday February 4th until Tuesday February 14th, Escape Hunt Tokyo will celebrate Valentine’s Day!
Would you like to surprise your loved ones? For 11 days, you will have a chance to hide a small gift or card in our game rooms to surprise the people you love during your escape: send us an e-mail in advance or give us a call, and we will do our best to make this Valentine’s Day unforgettable!
And because we love you so much, we have also hidden a surprise inside our rooms for those who successfully escape!
After the game, make the day even more special and take an adorable picture with our Valentine’s Day Foto Funnies. Love is in the air…at Escape Hunt Experience Tokyo!
Out with the Demon, in with the Fortune: it's Setsubun!
Every year, Japan celebrates Setsubun on February 3rd, a day before Spring, according to the old Japanese calendar. On that day, a special ritual is performed to cleanse away all the evil of the previous year, and drive away the evil spirits for the year to come: it's Mamemaki.
Litteraly "bean scattering", Mamemaki sees the male head of the household wearing a demon mask and being chased out of the house, while the rest of the family throws roasted beans at him and slam the door behind him, chanting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (see title).
To ensure luck, the roasted beans are then eaten: one for each year of one's life.
For this Setsubun, Escape Hunt Tokyo prepared something special for you: from Wednesday February 1st until Friday February 3rd, the groups who manage to escape our rooms will get a surprise as a reward!
Come and celebrate Setsubun with us, and... beware of the Demon!
