The district around Tokyo Imperial Palace (Kokyo 皇居), the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan, is called Kokyo Gaien (皇居外苑). The reason why I wanted to go to Kokyo Gaien was that the sidewalk surrounding Kokyo Gaien is popular for a jogging course. If you love jogging and are planning on traveling Tokyo, I recommend you to enjoy jogging there. I also wanted to jog around Kokyo Gaien, but we decided to take a walk instead of running. :)
On January 1, after having breakfast at our hotel, we decided to go to Kokyo Gaien by walk.
We walked through Hibiya Park (日比谷公園) to go to Kokyo Gaien.
Hibiya Park |
Hibiya Park Fountain |
Hibiya Park |
There is no signal in Kokyo Gaien jogging course, so this was the last intersection. ;)
Iwaidabashi Intersection 祝田橋 交差点 |
6 Facts about Kokyo Gaien Jogging Course
1. It's about 5 km (3.1 miles) in circumference.
2. There is no signals in this course. (It is extremely rare in the middle of Tokyo.)
3. There are seven public restrooms. (You should bring your own washcloth to dry your hands.)
4. Run counter-clockwise.
5. Spring and fall are the best seasons to jog there because you can also enjoy beautiful cherry blossoms in spring and autumn leaves in fall. You can jog in summer but very hot and humid.
6. There are some police stations in this course, so it's very safe to jog there. People also love jogging there night time.
At Kokyo Gaien, you can see so many Japanese black pine trees (黒松) beautifully trimmed.
Japanese Black Pine Trees at Koyo Gaien |
We started to walk along Uchibori Dori (内堀通り). You'll frequently see people jogging along the street. ;)
Uchibori Dori (内堀通り) |
While walking there, we enjoyed sightseeing.
The Moat of the Imperial Palace |
We were able to see many wild water birds and some carps (鯉) there. (I also saw that some Japanese police officers snorkeling there. They were probably investigating the moat to make sure it's safe.)
The Moat of the Imperial Palace |
We also found the beautiful mute swan.
Mute Swan |
Kokyo Higashi-Gyoen |
National Museum of Modern Art 東京国立近代美術館 |
The Moat of the Imperial Palace |
The Moat of the Imperial Palace |
You can see the National Diet Building (国会議事堂) there.
National Diet Building |
We went to Sakurada-mon (桜田門), one of the gate of Tokyo Imperial Palace.
Sakurada-mon |
Seimon Stonebridge (正門石橋), Nijubashi (二重橋) |
This is Seimon Stonebridge, which looked like eye glasses to me. ;)
Seimon Stonebridge (正門石橋), Nijubashi (二重橋) |
This is actually a small police station, which is called hasyutsujo (派出所) or koban (交番).
Police Station |
I saw so many black luxury cars driving from Tokyo Imperial Palace. Each car had a small national flag. I thought that ambassadors of each country attended the Ceremony of New Year Reception (新年祝賀の儀).
I uploaded this video to my YouTube channel. :)
Then, we headed toward to Tokyo Station to have lunch there. I'll write about it next time.
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I find it so quirky that police officers were snorkelling in the park! Japan! Haha! 🙂
ReplyDeleteCharmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Haha! :)
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