My Visit to The Tokyo Imperial Palace

My Visit to The Tokyo Imperial Palace

Last summer (July 2013) I had the amazing opportunity to go to Japan for a 5-week-internship with the Advanced Materials Science Department at the University of Tokyo, so of course I seized the chance!!!!!

Japan is amazing, I think no one can deny that, but I won’t be able to discuss it all in one blog post so tonight, I will just talk about the Tokyo Imperial Palace and share some pictures.

The very nice lady who works at my Professor’s office suggested to take me and 3 other friends to the Imperial Palace Garden one day and it was amazing! Thank you so much Makiko-San!   

From  left to right: Makiko-San, Jiaqi, me, Martin and Ciara!

The Tokyo Imperial Palace is located in the Chiyoda area, a short walk away from Tokyo Station. It can be accessed through the “Seimon Ishibashi Bridge” that leads to the main gate over the moats.

It contains several buildings including the main palace where the imperial family lives (but that part was of course guarded and not open for the public… too sad!), some administrative offices, a Kendo arena (where some people were practicing, we could hear them while we were passing by), and of course the amazing huge and very beautiful “East Gardens” open to the public. YAY :)

These gardens are the former site to the Edo castle’s innermost defence circles but only the moats, the walls, the entrance gates and some guardhouses still remain. It took us hours to tour, it was a very hot summer day and we were attacked by some mosquitoes but it was all worth it. We also had a tour guide who was telling us the stories behind the buildings and the different areas of the gardens.

Here are some of the pictures I took, and if you are planning to visit Japan, pay the Imperial Palace Gardens a visit, you won’t regret it. It's kind of calming to walk around them, all green and beautiful. 

PS: if you’re visiting during the summer, don’t forget to put on sun cream, wear a hat and don’t forget your water bottle. If your skin tends to get sun burns quickly, wear a light jacket with long sleeves.