Tokyo Imperial Palace

I went to the imperial palace gardens and didn't see much. The imperial palace is open to the public twice a year, and one of these days is January 2, so I went! ...but there wasn't much to see this time either.

It was really crowded. The imperial family would be there to give a new year's greeting, so there were security measures. Our bags were checked, we were scanned with those metal detectors that are used at airports, and we were patted down. We got in and waited. Eventually we heard voices on a loudspeaker while the crowd waved Japanese flags and shouted "banzai". There were a lot of elderly Japanese people. The imperial family stayed inside, and I heard the glass is bullet proof. After that, it took forever to get out. The crowd was huge and we were inching along like snails. I felt like a penguin.

Imperial Palace East Gardens and More Pictures from Tokyo

We wanted to check out the Imperial Palace, but it's rarely open to the public. All we could do is wander around the east garden.

This area included the financial district and many government buildings

In the subway... sometimes there's a gate or glass doors to keep people from falling onto the tracks

Tokyo station is big. This picture was taken outside of it somewhere

Tonkatsu for lunch