Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1
DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN GODDESS
Emperor Akihito
, the 125th incumbent of the Chrysanthemum Throne, traces his ancestry
back to 660 BC and Emperor Jimmu, great-great-grandson of the mythological Sun Goddess
Amaterasu. Most scholars, however, acknowledge that the first emperor for whom there is any
historical evidence is the fifth-century Emperor Ojin.
Until the twentieth century, emperors were regarded as living deities whom ordinary folk
were forbidden to set eyes on, or even hear. Japan's defeat in World War II ended all that and
today the emperor is a symbolic figure, a head of state with no governmental power. While he
was crown prince,
Emperor Akihito
had an American tutor and studied at Tokyo's elite
Gakushūin University, followed by a stint at Oxford University. In 1959 he broke further with
tradition by marrying a commoner,
Shōda Michiko
.
Following in his father's footsteps,
Crown Prince Naruhito
married high-flying Harvard-
educated diplomat Owada Masako in 1993. The intense press scrutiny that the couple came
under when they failed to produce a male heir (current laws prohibit a female succession) has
been cited as one of reasons for the princess's miscarriage in 1999. Two years later the crown
princess gave birth to a baby girl,
Aiko
, but the mother has barely been seen in public since,
suffering from a variety of stress-related illnesses. One piece of good news for the royal
succession is that Princess Kiko, wife of Naruhito's younger brother, gave birth to Hisahito in
2006 - the young prince is third in line for the throne after his uncle and father.
secret world, and the pre-tour video shows tantalizing glimpses of vast function rooms
and esoteric court rituals.
Nijūbashi
ೋॏڮ
The primary reason to follow the groups of tourists straggling across the broad
avenues is to view one of the palace's most photogenic corners,
Nijūbashi
, where
two bridges span the moat and a jaunty little watchtower perches on its grey
stone pedestal beyond. Though this double bridge is a late nineteenth-century
embellishment, the tower dates back to the seventeenth century and is one of the
castle's few original structures. Twice a year (on Dec 23, the emperor's o
cial
birthday, and on Jan 2) thousands of well-wishers file across Nijūbashi to greet the
royal family, lined up behind bulletproof glass, with a rousing cheer of “
Banzai!
”
(“May you live 10,000 years!”).
Higashi Gyoen
౦ޚԓ
• East entrance off Uchibori-dōri, north entrance opposite National Museum of Modern Art • Tues-Thurs, Sat & Sun 9am-4pm
(closed occasionally for court functions) • Free token available at park entrance; hand back on exit • Ōtemachi or Takebashi stations
Hemmed in by moats, the
Higashi Gyoen
, or East Garden, was opened to the public
in 1968 to commemorate the completion of the new Imperial Palace. It's a good
place for a stroll, while the towering granite walls, as well as several formidable
gates, hint at the grandeur of the shogunate's Edo Castle, which stood near here
until the seventeenth century.
Ōte-mon
େख
• Museum Tues-Thurs, Sat & Sun 9am-4pm • Free
The main gate to the former Edo Castle - and, today, to the garden - is
Ōte-mon
, an
austere, moat-side construction whose bottom half is made up of charmingly wonky
cubes of rock. Much of it was destroyed in 1945, but it has been lovingly restored since.
The first building ahead on the right is a small
museum
, exhibiting a tiny fraction of the
eight thousand artworks in the imperial collection, and worth a quick look.
