Imperial Palace Open Day: Dec. 6, 2014

The main part of Imperial Palace, where the Emperor and the Imperial family live, is usually closed to the public. It opened the door to citizens for the first time in the autumn color season. The decision was made following the Emperor’s words.

I visited the palace. It was a nice day. The sky was blue and the wind was comfortably cold.

Thousands people were making lines in front of the palace when I arrived there. 

It took about an hour before entering the palace through the “Samashita” Gate. Policemen and women controlled the visitors well.

We walked slowly through the Inui Street in the palace. There were tens of maple trees along the street. The leaves were glowing red and orange. There were other trees with red and yellow leaves, too.

There lied a moat at the side of the street. I walked about 20 minutes and arrived at the Inui Gate.

The palace was open from Dec. 3rd to 7th. About 79 thousands people visited the place today, according to the news reports.

I moved to the East Gardens of the Palace, which is always open to the public.

There were various autumn color scenes in the gardens.

Some trees were on the ruins of buildings.