Outside the walls of the Emperor's Garden. The walkway you see on the right had hundreds of runners. They weren't in a race, just individuals and small groups out for a run on a sunny day. Literally, hundreds of them.
Looking out the gate towards the city.
Today's guards mostly just defend against unruly displays of disrespect, such as running within the gardens.
Overlooking the Honmaru Lawn with the city in the background. The guidebook said "Outstanding View", it was right.
Below is Fujimiyagura. It's a guard shack and a few photos down you'll see it from outside the moat. It works as a defensive device and looks almost the same from all directions.
Oh Bansho: The upper class guards lived here.
Taking a break and drinking Cocoteen from the vending machine at the Rest House (I'm pretty sure that means Tourist Center, but it sounds better). It was from the "hot" drinks row, weird a warm can from a vending machine. Even though it said "hot", I didn't really believe it.
A couple of guard shacks atop one of the two moats.
That's the Emperor's Palace on the hill behind us guarded by a gate. This is as close as you actually get to it.
We walked a long ways to get to the Gate that you can't go through, all the gravel is part of the original fortress securing the palace.
We went back through Ginza to get some dinner before returning to the hotel. Too bad there are no pictures of dinner! There's an elevated train going through the city and underneath it are a bunch of restaurants and shops. I never even heard the train once we were in the restaurant. Maybe because the music was loud! Ginza at night was sort of like Times Square in NYC.
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