Parks and skyscrapers around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo
The city of Tokyo is a city without a single center: there are many of them. Entertainment districts and business centers bristling with skyscrapers are concentrated along the Yamanote subway line. There’s a center for young people, a center for otaku freaks, an electronics center, and business hubs, but they all seem to shun the geographic center where the Imperial Palace Gardens are located. It is a park oasis in the heart of the city, and even the subway does not pass under it, leaving the Emperor’s house untouched and sacred.
Hanzomon Station
The station is named after that same Hatori Hanzo, known to all from the movie Kill Bill. The famous warrior supposedly guarded this very gate to what was then the Shogun’s palace.
The park around the Imperial Palace
A favorite jogging path for Tokyo joggers. Perfect distance (1 lap – 5 km), scenic views (one side – Imperial Gardens and the palace, the other – skyscrapers), comfortable infrastructure (you can regularly see toilets, lockers, drinking fountains and vending machines). Ready, steady, go!
Eastern gardens
It’s almost like Central Park. Imperial Park is in a bowl of skyscrapers, so from everywhere you look you can see the tops of high-rise business centers behind the trees. At the entrance you will be given a license plate, which you will have to hand in on the way out. The large park is divided into sections by walls and earthen berms. There is a lawn section, there is a section with ponds and irises, with maples and sakura trees, a field of pine trees and many others. And there’s no guessing what to expect around the next corner.
Take with you a bento and a thermos of tea. Here you can lie on the grass and pine needles.
The days of the park should be checked in advance on the website.
Idemitsu Museum of Arts
Large Japanese companies have a wonderful tradition of creating their own museums and art collections. One such museum that has a remarkable collection of Japanese art is the Idemitsu Museum of Arts. In addition to the permanent exhibition, exhibitions of sculpture or painting from Kyoto or Nara change quite frequently here. It is an ideal place for those who want to travel around Japan without leaving Tokyo.
Not everyone knows that from the 9th floor of the museum you have a wonderful view of the gardens and nearby skyscrapers.
