Imperial Palace

Imperial Palace

Because Danielle is such a nerd for castles, moats, and stone walls (and apparently has nothing else to talk about as of late since she’s been a bit occupied with work lately before the New Years), I thought I’d talk about my visit to the Imperial Palace of Marunouchi.

Talk about a complete 180 switch from busy city Shibuya to Holland-inspired Marunouchi. And of course, the palace was right outside the beautiful brick-built Tokyo Station, one of the busiest and oldest stations in Japan. Which is a beautiful trip all in itself, as you can hopefully see in my photos.

It almost reminded me of Chicago, in a way, with the windiness and drizzilyness and wide open with tall buildings and fountains and everything. Was so refreshing, so open, and so pretty.

I learned that almost every part of the Imperial Palace was built with protection in mind (as most castles are, I suspect). There were two moats (ohori) for extra protection, huge stones for the outer/inner walls (ishigaki), and tiny little windows to protect against arrows or gunshot.

I also learned that the Imperial Palace located on top of where Edo Castle once was, and that a looong time ago (like before the United States of America was born), shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa used to live there. (Again, Danielle's infatuation of the Sengoku period.) But when the shongunate was overthrown, the country's capital and Imperial Residence moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, and in 1888, the new Imperial Palace was built, but then rebuilt later on after it was destroyed in World War II.

It was also funny to note that most of the Palace's visitors were foreigners. I’m told this is a great place to see the cherry blossoms in spring (hanami), but it's a super popular spot, and thus, INSANELY crowded, as well.