The Imperial Palace in Tokyo

By alantvuong on January 22, 2021

Before attending Ultra Japan , my buddy and I had a great time exploring Tokyo. We wanted to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and wanted to do something FREE and learn more about the history of the city. We researched online and purposely chose a place that required us to take the train to a part of Tokyo we haven’t visited yet. We decided we would visit The Imperial Palace and its East Gardens in the Chiyoda district.

Getting There

Since we were staying at APA Hotel Higashi Shinjuku Ekimae, it would have taken us about a 25 minute taxi ride to the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda. Since we enjoyed taking the train and thought that accessibility is great in Tokyo, we wanted to take the train for this exciting adventure.

so glad they have this at Takebashi station

From our hotel, it was a quick 3 minute stroll to Higashi-Shinjuku station. Since this train station is right by our hotel, we have used it a few times and became quite familiar with it and knew it was wheelchair accessible. After 7 stops, we had to get off at Babashitacho station and transfer to Waseda station.

going up

From there it took us straight to Takebashi station. As soon as we got off the train, we could tell that this train station was a bit older and smaller than the others. We didn’t think we could get out because there were no elevators. Luckily, we did see a transit staff member who brought us to the one exit where there was an old style wheelchair lift.

Takebashi station was really close to the Imperial Palace

Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace was just a few minutes from Takebashi station and the whole trip probably took us about 40 minutes. As soon as we got closer, it was pretty majestic seeing this beautiful lush area right in the heart of the city. This really large park like area not only contains the Imperial Palace but since it was built on the site of the old Edo Castle, there are several other buildings around.

Imperial Palace moat and guard tower

No one is actually allowed inside the Imperial Palace but it was great to be outside checking out the surroundings. We saw really nice bridges including the Seimon Ishibashi bridge which leads to the main gate of the Imperial Palace. We mostly used the paved pathway to get around and everywhere was quite wheelchair accessible.

Seimon Ishibashi bridge

East Gardens

looks amazing

My buddy and I then decided to check out the East Gardens. This is on the grounds of the Imperial Palace. Again, we stayed mostly on the paved pathways and didn’t really have any issues visiting this huge garden. There were several buildings located in this area including Tokagakudo Music Hall, the Suwana Chaya Tea House and several other administrative buildings.

Suwana Chaya Tea House

We thought we were in a totally different city, because the rest of Tokyo that we saw were all surrounded with streets, buildings, neon lights and people. It was great to have so much green trees and plant life around us. There was also a few ponds that had big goldfish swimming in them.

they do have paved pathways

Edo Castle

Edo Castle was built in 1457 and even though it is not at the Imperial Palace anymore, some of the moats, walls and structure still exist to this day. There are ruins of the former Edo Castle that we got to visit and experience. It was actually the base of the castle and had a ramp to get to the top of it. The ramp wasn’t to steep but I am so glad my buddy wheeled me up it.

ramp to the base of the castle

This attraction was quite busy as there were a lot of people on it. We got to see a great view of the city and got to read some information about the castle. There was even a map at the top pointing out the exact locations of everything at Imperial Garden.

at the top of the base

Kokyo Gaien National Garden

nice garden

Kokyo Gaien National Garden is a National Park that is located a few minutes directly South of the Imperial Garden. my buddy and I took a snack break and bought some ice cream at one of the vendors in the park.

snack break

We then saw the famous Statue of Kusunoki Masashige and decided to relax at Wadakura Fountain Park and watch the fountain show. We were told that at night, there is colors and music that accompanies a better choreographed fountain show, but we were already getting ready to leave.

Statue of Kusunoki Masashige

Wadakura Fountain Park

Tokyo Station

Leaving the Chiyoda area, we came across Tokyo Station. It was quite huge and very historic looking. It is one of the busiest train stations in Eastern Japan. Everything about it was so Grand and looked very beautiful. It reminded me of Grand Central Station in New York and felt just as big. With so many trains connecting here, we didn’t have a hard time choosing the right one back to our hotel.

Tokyo Station

Both my friend and I enjoyed our time venturing out from the busy city life area around our hotel to a more quiet area of Tokyo. The whole experience of taking the train to visiting the Imperial Palace and its gardens only lasted a few hours for us but it was definitely worth it. If you appreciate nature and history, this FREE attraction should not be missed.