Walk the palace grounds first, while it is cool. The three areas touch each other, so this day has almost no travelling in it.
Six minutes on foot separates the first stop from the last.
08:30 the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace · 10:30 the moat and the pine lawn at Kokyo Gaien · 11:30 Tokyo Station — the 1914 brick building, from the outside · 12:00 lunch under the station · 14:00 Ginza on foot · 16:00 Hama-rikyu garden, or the fish market at Tsukiji
The East Gardens are open to walk into, and they are free. Stone walls, a moat, and the foundation of the old castle keep at the top of the hill.
The castle keep stood here until 1657. The stones are still in place.
The bridge and the turret behind it, across the moat.
Black pines on gravel, with the towers of Marunouchi behind them.
A brick station from 1914, and a nationally designated Important Cultural Property. Look at it from the palace side, then go underneath for lunch.
Ginza is closed to cars on weekend afternoons and becomes a street to walk down. From the far end you are ten minutes from a garden on the bay.
Cars stop on weekend afternoons.
A garden with a tidal pond, and a tea house on the water.
Grilled scallops and knives. Best before eleven.
A boat pier sits beside Hama-rikyu. Boats run to Asakusa and to the bay, and they are public transport rather than a tour.
A place can be better known than the prefecture it sits in. Use the prefecture pages below to work out where to eat, where to stay, how to get around and who to call.
