Tokyo; Saturday, 19 April, 2025

I had a bit of a lie in and then, after breakfast, headed out over to the Imperial Gardens, close to Tokyo station. The Imperial Palace is still home to the Japanese Royal Family, but the eastern gardens, which are the site of the former Edo Castle, have been opened to the public for them to look around.

The gardens are made up of two key parts – the upper gardens are the site of the former castle and include a small amount of the ruins of the castle – with the base of the former castle keep still visible at the rear of the garden, and the lower garden which houses the traditional flowerbeds all alive with rhododendrons in bloom, accompanied by many cherry trees still in blossom, as well as the traditional Japanese style garden laid out around a small lake.

I spent several hours wandering around the castle gardens and grounds before heading back into the underground complex that links together several metro stations, shopping malls and Tokyo station itself into a single structure, stopping off to grab some lunch before heading out on the train to Shimbashi station and then walking the short distance down to the Hamarikyu Gardens.

I’d been past the gardens on the river cruise the previous day and had been intrigued by them. Built on the site of a former palace of a Shogun, the gardens look like they have been built on top of a castle with steep sloping walls heading down into the moat, which is in effect a dock area off of the river that can be sealed off with sluice gates. It also means that all of the lakes and streams in the park are tidal, fed by the river and, given its proximity to the mouth of the river in Tokyo Bay, salt water rather than fresh.

The gardens cover the whole of the former fortification and despite being busy there were plenty of quiet spaces to find, as well as many very picturesque spots, including some showing the contrast of the city. Standing on a mound looking across the lake to a Tea House linked by traditional Japanese wooden bridges, but rising up directly behind it a gigantic glass skyscraper.

In the end they had already started to play the closing music over the Tanoy as I was heading to the exit so was once again one of the last people to be leaving a set of gardens.

I caught the metro back over towards Tokyo Station and wandered down slightly beyond the Imperial Gardens to the Kokyo Gaien National Gardens. These are located slightly to the south and are almost directly outside the part of the palace walls that include the actual Imperial Palace and the royal quarters, though none of that is visible from outside.

I spent a bit of time wandering around the gardens, taking in the sunset before heading back down into the mega underground complex that eventually takes you to Tokyo station, where I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed back to the hotel and a well deserved early night.