Exploring the Eastern Capital 東京

I’ve had complaints that my last few posts have been too wordy! On the other hand some folk have complained that I’m not sharing enough – which simply proves that you can’t please all of the people all of the time! Hopefully this has the right balance of pictures and prose!

I spent Saturday enjoying some fabulous weather exploring various parts of Tokyo… starting off with the grounds of the Imperial Palace. The whole area is surrounded by a huge moat – and you can’t get anywhere near the actual palace. You can, however, get into the Higashi Gyoen or East Garden where the original Edo (the old name for Tokyo) Castle once stood.

I’ve been told that I’m actually in Tokyo a few weeks too early as I will miss out on the cherry blossom (sakura) season. They take this very seriously in Japan – with parties to celebrate. I guess it’s not unlike Groundhog Day in the US and the celebration of the end of winter. There’s even cherry blossom forecasts! Here’s a few shots of blossom which haven’t taken the time to read the forecast…

Near the Imperial Palace is the National Diet Building (not the HQ of Weight Watchers – but the Japanese parliament building!). It is supposedly modelled on the Capitol in DC (but with a pyramid rather than a dome on top) with the House of Representatives to the left of the central section and the House of Councillors (similar in its role to the UK House of Lords) on the right.



From the Imperial Palace, I headed west out to the Shinjuku area. The twin towered building, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, is said to have been influenced by Notre Dame in Paris. You can get up to the observation deck of both towers without queuing and it’s free! And you get some impressive views. On a very clear day, you’d be able to see Mount Fuji just to the right of centre of the final photo.

From Shinjuku I headed to the north of the city and the Asakusa area where you find the most important Buddhist Temple in Tokyo – Senso-ji. You approach the temple through the Kaminari-mon (“Thunder Gate”) and walk down the Nakamise-dori. You then walk through the next gate Hozo-mon before seeing Senso-ji itself and Gojun-to (the five storied pagoda next to it).





And now some trivia… Tokyo (東京) literally means Eastern Capital. It became the capital in 1869 when the Emperor Meiji moved there from Kyoto (京都市) which simply means Capital City.