The East Gardens of Imperial Palace, Tokyo 23rd March 2008

Today, I have appointment with Rie-san and her family. Rie-san was my colleague when I worked for NEC. They pick me up at 9.20 am and took me to some interesting places in Tokyo. One of them is the East Gardens of Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Palace East Gardens (Kokyo Higashi Gyoen) are a part of the inner palace area and are open to the public, except on Mondays, Fridays and some special occasions (see links below). Admissions is free of charge.

The East Gardens are the former site of Edo Castle's innermost circles of defense, the honmaru ("main circle") and ninomaru ("secondary circle"). None of the main buildings remain today, but the moats, walls, entrance gates and several guardhouses still exist.

Edo Castle was the residence of the Tokugawa shogun who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867. Emperor Meiji also resided there from 1868 to 1888 before moving to the newly constructed Imperial Palace.

A wide lawn and the remaining foundation of the former castle tower can be found on top of the hill, where the castle's innermost buildings once stood. The castle tower was completed in 1638 as the tallest castle tower in Japan's history. But only a few years later in 1657, it was destroyed by citywide fires and has not been rebuilt ever since.