The Imperial Palace

Well the rain stopped and I was out on the town again.

This time I went to the Imperial Palace to walk through some lush gardens, and see some early blooming Sakura (cherry blossom) trees in all their glory.

Fun fact 1: The closest you will ever get to the Imperial Palace is the two bridges (Nijubashi and Meganebashi) that act as walk ways across the moat to the actual palace residence.

Fun Fact 2: You are not allowed to go on these bridges.

Fun Fact 3: The actual grounds of the Imperial Palace are only accessible two days out of the year every year. These being January 2nd (New Year’s Greeting) and December 23rd (The Emperor’s Birthday). So if you want to actually see inside the grounds, plan your trip there around one or both of these days.

…or you could go on a guided tour with about fifty other people and pay about $70, your choice.

Otherwise you can visit the Imperial Palace East Gardens, which surround the palace, which is what I did.

There are a few entries to the gardens depending on which station you get off at. My station had me entering the gardens from the complete opposite side, which was actually quite a good thing because I didn’t have to double back at all.

To enter you cross the bridge over the moat, go through a quick bag inspection (not allowed to take food, drink or fireworks into the gardens) and then you walk through a ticket booth where the man behind the counter hands you a plastic card that you are to return on exiting through whichever exit you choose.

And then you’re inside.

There are maps all the way through the gardens, but there’s no way you’re going to get lost. It’s big, but not that big.

I found myself first right smack bang in the middle of Plum Tree slope, a curved walkway that is lined by plum trees in (almost) full bloom. Dark pinks, light pinks, white, they’re all there. And all very pretty.

The garden is full of mini gardens, with small waterfalls, and ponds with koi fish that you can walk around and take pictures.

It actually wasn’t that busy when I first got there which I was quite surprised about, but it made it the perfect time to take pictures, with Nikon camera + selfie stick, because I need all the angles I can get.

…this guy really wanted to be in my photo, he did not move.

This man was painting the trees, which I thought was really nice.

There were two single cherry blossom trees in full bloom further down the path which had everybody standing under them taking pictures. I went in for my turn and a Japanese man came over and told me about them, which was really nice. Because at the start I was like ‘what is this guy doing?’ He mentioned that these trees bloom earlier than the most in Tokyo and that right now they are in full bloom.

Sakura trees only bloom for a week or so and there is only one or two days where you can see them at their peak, so it was nice to be able to see it in early March. Cherry Blossom season is the last week of March to early April, and it seems like it’s taking forever to get there, so it was good to see some now.

There are a number of buildings littered though the gardens, some still being the originals. But you’re only allowed to go into maybe one of them.

When you exit you really feel as though you’ve just stepped out of another time. The Edo period gardens quickly turn into the bustling Tokyo streets as soon as you step over the threshold, which is something that I really enjoy about Tokyo. Old and New existing together in balance.

You have to actually leave the gardens to be able to get to the Imperial palace, which was about 500m to the right of where I exited.

These are the two bridges that would deliver you to the Palace grounds if you went inside.

I then made my way to a park, which I have forgotten the name of which was straight across the road. It had a statue of ‘The Great Samurai’ Kusunoki Masashige, who fought for the Emperor in the 14th Century.

And just to the left of him was a nice little snack shop where I brought a delicious green tea ice cream. The man told me to enjoy, and boy did I!

Also…. The pigeons here are terrifying.

You’re not meant to feed them, there are signs everywhere in Japanese, Chinese, English and Korean, and yet… people feed them. So now they’re even worse than they usually are in cities, where they just take a bit too long to get out of your way. No here, they will fly straight over your head or near your hands in an effort to get your food.

There was a young couple in Akihabara last week who were taking pictures of the girl feed the pigeons and then have them land on her hand. Why you would want a dirty pigeon touching you, I will never know… but they were quite happy.

But like… don’t feed pigeons.

Day will be continued in Meiji Shrine Post.