Tour of the Imperial Palace, Japan, where the Emperor lives!

This was the day of the Imperial Palace tour that I had booked two weeks before leaving for Japan. The Imperial Palace, located in the center of Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, is the residence of the Japanese Emperor. To put it simply, it feels similar to the five grand palaces of our country. Of course, it is currently only a facade, but it is possible to enter and tour the space where the head of state of another country actually resides! I wondered if the Blue House tour that I had done at least once in elementary school would feel like this for people from other countries. The Imperial Palace tour started at 9 o’clock. I arrived at the Imperial Palace on the subway during rush hour, dragging my tired body. The Imperial Palace tour, which involved about 300 people, was conducted by dividing the participants into groups by language, and each group was accompanied by a guide. The Imperial Palace tour was a series of strokes of luck. Unlike the Chinese or English groups where dozens of people followed one guide, the Korean group consisted of only two people, me and my friend. Thanks to this, the tour was much more comfortable than the other groups. When we arrived in front of the Seiden (main hall), which can be called the main building of the Imperial Palace, black limousines were lined up in the square in front of the main hall. And soon after, the area around the square was cordoned off. While I was racking my brain to see if something had happened, I saw someone walking down the hallway of the main hall. As it turned out, that was the first day of the Cyprus diplomatic mission to visit Japan, and the Imperial Palace was the first stop on their itinerary. Coincidentally, the Cyprus diplomatic mission had just exited the building as we were passing through the main hall, and so the visitors, including me, were able to see the magnificent inspection of the Japanese honor guard along with the Imperial Palace. The inspection led by the cavalry and carriages lasted for 20 minutes. #JapanTravel #TokyoTravel #IKYO #LifeTravelDestination #LifeShotPlace #jhtour