Autumn in the gardens of the Imperial Palace

Staying in Tokyo sometimes means that you do not have to go far to find beauty because Tokyo has it all - the wonderful gardens that really bring out the beauty of the seasons. After my last visit in 2008, I happen to revisited the Imperial Palace East Gardens (皇居東御苑, Kōkyo Higashi Gyoen) and found that the gardens doesn't disappoint even though it is still early autumn in Tokyo.

I was planning to go somewhere but as usual, my planning was bad and I couldn't get the tickets that I need for my trip so instead of wallowing in my disappointment, I detour to the gardens in the Imperial Palace. It was a rainy cold morning when I reached the huge garden of the Imperial Palace East Gardens, the Honmaru Area.

The Honmaru area has the most spacious area where visitors are treated to shady pathway and multitude of different of plants planted throughout the garden. 

 I even found an autumn cherry blossom too! Strange, huh?

Just reading on the grass

The other area of the Imperial Palace East Gardens that one should not missed is the Ninomaru Area. This area features a cool collection of various species of plants from across all regions of Japan.

Apart from that, it also has a Japanese style garden. The Japanese style garden is really nice and a quiet stroll around this garden will definitely chase away all the blues you've had before like me and my travel plans gone awry (my fault - making last minute plans) and I am glad that I came here. It is a good place to just relax and enjoying the scenery. I simply loved it.

The Imperial Palace East Gardens are free and open to the public except on Mondays, Fridays and special occasions and more information can be obtained on the Imperial Palace East Gardens page.

Obtained from Kokyo Gaien National Garden website