Chitown Chatter: Imperial Palace

Tokyo's real estate comes at a significant cost, which means that while there are a few small parks scattered here and there, there is pretty much no green space other than the Imperial Palace grounds.

Unlike the analogous Central Park though, the majority of the grounds are closed to the public. I suppose that's because the Imperial Family wants their privacy, bah. Still, a large swath of the land is open year-round, admittance is free, and oh yeah, the landscaping isn't half bad either. On the outer perimeter, paths have been outlined for runners and cyclists. My visit seemed to have coincided with some sort of race, as the area was flooded with runners in spandex.

The Imperial Palace was originally built in feudal times, but over the course of centuries of war and mismanagement, the buildings were in a state of disrepair by the turn of the century. Most of the current palace was constructed in 1968, though parts of the moat and the entry gates are original pieces.

Due to popular demand, I am actually in a picture (to prove that I'm really in Japan and not simply posting photos from home.) Though this is no Taughhannock Falls, this waterfall was pretty soothing on a gorgeous 20° day. You know, this would be a great place to hide a letterbox too...

The gardens feature lots of traditional Japanese architectural elements, and the plants were labeled with their origin in Japan.

All of this was even more amazing when you thought about how close modern Tokyo was to this oasis of tranquility. The palace is pretty much in the shadows of Tokyo Tower.

This light seems rather out of place to me, and looks rather Victorian, or perhaps Narnian when you factor in the lion's heads.

The guardhouse housed 100 of the best, most loyal samurai.

Detail on the roof

The moat contains some very, very large koi. These were at least the length of my arm, which makes me think that the urban legend about fish growing proportionally to the size of their tank might be true.

The moat also contains seven swans a-swimming.

The Meganebashi (eyeglasses) bridge is a double-barreled bridge that is named for its shape.

Did you notice any photos of the Imperial Palace itself? Yeah, me neither. The family is notoriously reclusive, and save for New Year's Day and December 23rd (the Emperor's birthday), the rest of the grounds are closed to the public. The Imperial Museum was however featuring an exhibit on the personal effects of the royal family, so I got to ogle the royal hand washing equipment (looks like fancy tea kettles), kimonos, harp (the Empress apparently likes Mozart) and journal articles (the Emperor has published research in ichthyology).

On Sundays, from 10 am to 3 pm, the koban (police box) at Uchibori-dori gives out bikes for riding in a circuit near the palace grounds. The roads are closed off to traffic, so it is very safe for children and geared towards people wanting a leisurely ride, as opposed to triathletes. I decided to take advantage of this and checked out the above bike, which is a bit less badass than my usual rides, a single speed bike equipped with a pedestrian bell and basket. Oh well, it was good to be on two wheels again. Too bad the route is only 3 km long, so I was done in about 15 minutes. I will also mention that bike security here is extremely lax; about 50% of bikes are locked with a small cable lock (if you did that in the Loop...lolol) and the other 50% are just unlocked. Compare this to Paris, which is having a bit of a rough time with vandalization of Velib bikes.

After I returned my bike, I wandered into the adjacent restaurant. There was a buffet lunch available for ¥1200, which is a steal in this town. Plus, the food was actually good! (I think this is the first time I've been happy about the food at a tourist attraction.) I could only translate some of the labels, but for the most part, we have traditional Japanese pickled items, radishes, tofu, some salmon (with bone), chicken, several kinds of mushrooms, yakisoba (Chinese chow mein), a potato croquette, potato salad and udon noodles.