Originally Edo Castle,the headquarters of the Tokugawa Shogunate,
the palace became the Imperial Family residence after the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
The Present Emperor and his family live in the Akasaka Palace temporarily.
THe inner cittadel of Old Edo Casle,now the East Garden of the Imperial Palace,
is open to the public.(10min.on foot from Tokyo station.)
Nijubashi Bridge
Ginza Dori Street Hibiya Park
Ginza was the first Japanese attempt to implement Western architecture
on a large scale.(15min.on foot from Imperial Palace.)
The shift that changed the area that had only contained the Shogun controlled mint
into Japan's leading shopping district began at the time of the imperial Restoration
in the latter part of the 19th cebtury. Today only the name remains.