The Imperial Gardens was not at all what I expected. I guess hanging out at Epcot or Yerba Buena Park in San Francisco threw me off a little. Japanese gardens are stereotyped as flowering gardens with fountains and ponds loaded with medium sized koi fish. Wooden bridges and trellises are plentiful with stone carvings and red and gold-painted Tori gates. Not so. This time of year foliage is going thru a transitional stage and what flowers were still left were probably blown off by the previous week's typhoon. Nonetheless, we were lucky with beautiful cool weather and a clear sky. The gardens themselves were clean and simple. People everywhere were either on their lunchbreaks or having picnics with family. Digging a little deeper into the 173-acre area we found streams and small rocks with falling water. The koi here aren't medium-sized, they're GIGANTIC! Easily two feet long I know they live for quite a long time so these fish must be ancient. by fish standards.
The new palace is also on this property and is where the royal family reside, but it's closed off to visitors. The only exception is on the Emperor's birthday and New Year's Eve. It was pretty interesting to see some of the original samurai guardhouses, artillery storage and defense houses. Almost all of them have been destroyed and only a handful remain.
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