Kokyo Gaien National Garden 皇居外苑

Austere lawns and pine trees

The imperial gardens are a vast, mostly flat space surrounding the imperial palace. If you're a castle fan, the remaining stone walls, moats, and Sakurada Gate are well worth visiting here on your walk to see the remains of Edo Castle. The lawns, pine trees, paths, and statue of the emperor's loyal subject Kusunoki Masashige are monumental but if you take your time here, there are subtle details. One of the stone paths I strolled along has embedded in it roof tile roundels with the mitsudomoe crest. You can sit on many of the lawns under the pine trees, but other stretches of grass are off-limits.