11 Best Sights in Imperial Palace District, Tokyo

Formerly part of the grounds of Edo Castle, this garden was claimed for the imperial family after the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Though most of the old castle was torn down or lost to fire, the stone foundations hint at the scale of the country's former seat of power. In the East Gardens you'll find the National Police Agency dojo (martial arts hall) and the Ote Rest House; the Museum of the Imperial Collection is next door and features rotating exhibits of imperial household treasures. The Hundred-Man Guardhouse was once defended by four shifts of 100 soldiers each. Past it is the entrance to what was once the ni-no-maru, the "second circle" of the fortress. It's now a grove and garden. At the far end is the Suwa Tea Pavilion, an early-19th-century building relocated here from another part of the castle grounds. The octagonal tower is the 1966 Tokagakudo Concert Hall.

High on the edge of the Imperial Palace moat, this cemetery holds the remains of thousands of unknown soldiers and is famous for its springtime cherry blossoms. The adjacent Chidorigafuchi Boathouse rents out rowboats and pedal boats. Only a small part of the palace's outer moat is accessible, but a walk here makes for a refreshing 30 minutes. The entrance to the garden is near Yasukuni Jinja.

The house of Hattori Hanzo (1541–96) once sat at the foot of this small wooden gate. Hanzo was a legendary leader of Ieyasu Tokugawa's private corps of spies and infiltrators—and assassins, if need be. They were the menacing, black-clad ninja—perennial material for historical adventure films and television dramas. The gate is a minute's walk from the subway.

The approach to this gate crosses the only wooden bridge that spans the Imperial Palace moat. The gate and bridge are reconstructions, but Hirakawa-mon is especially beautiful, looking much as it must have when the shogun's wives and concubines used it on their rare excursions from the harem.

When the office buildings of the Meiji government were moved from this area in 1899, the whole expanse along the east side of the palace was turned into a public promenade and planted with 2,800 pine trees. The Outer Garden affords the best view of the castle walls and their Tokugawa-period fortifications: Ni-ju-bashi and the Sei-mon, the 17th-century Fujimi Yagura watchtower, and the Sakurada-mon gate. From 10 to 4 on Sunday, the road between the Outer Garden and Palace is closed to all vehicles except bicycles.

The Japanese parliament occupies a perfect example of post–World War II Japanese architecture; on a gloomy day it seems as if it might have sprung from the screen of a German Expressionist movie. Started in 1920, construction took 17 years to complete. Guided tours are available most days, but it's best to call ahead to confirm times. The prime minister's residence, Kantei, is across the street; you can try and get a glimpse of it, but it's quite hidden by walls and trees.

This Gothic Revival redbrick structure from 1910 is worth seeking out. The exhibits of modern and traditional Japanese crafts inside are all too few, but many master artists are represented here in the traditions of lacquerware, textiles, pottery, bamboo, and metalwork.

Founded in 1952 and moved to its present site in 1969, this was Japan's first national art museum. Often referred to by its acronym, MOMAT, it features a range of 20th- and 21st-century Japanese and Western artworks. On the second to fourth floors, it houses a permanent collection, which includes paintings, prints, and sculptures by Rousseau, Picasso, Tsuguji Fujita, Ryuzaburo Umehara, and Taikan Yokoyama.

Making a graceful arch across the moat, this bridge is surely the most photogenic spot on the grounds of the former Edo Castle. Mere mortals may pass through only on December 23 (the emperor's birthday) and January 2 to pay their respects to the imperial family. The guards in front of their small, octagonal, copper-roof sentry boxes change every hour on the hour—alas, with nothing like the pomp and ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

The main entrance to the Imperial Palace East Gardens was in former days the principal gate of Ieyasu Tokugawa's castle. Most of the gate was destroyed in 1945 but was rebuilt in 1967 based on the original plans. The outer part of the gate survived and offers an impressive entrance into the palace's East Gardens.

Founded in 1869, this shrine is dedicated to approximately 2½ million Japanese, Taiwanese, and Koreans who have died since then in war or military service. As the Japanese constitution expressly renounces both militarism and state sponsorship of religion, Yasukuni has been a center of stubborn political debate, particularly since 1978 when a shrine official added the names of several class-A war criminals to the list. Numerous prime ministers have visited the shrine since 1979, causing a political chill between Japan and its close neighbors, Korea and China, who suffered under Japanese colonialism. Despite all this, hundreds of thousands of Japanese come here every year, simply to pray for the repose of friends and relatives they have lost. These pilgrimages are most frenzied on August 15, the anniversary of the conclusion of World War II, when former soldiers and ultra-right-wing groups descend upon the shrine's grounds en masse.

The shrine is not one structure but a complex of buildings that include the Main Hall and the Hall of Worship—both built in the simple, unadorned style of the ancient Shinto shrines at Ise—and the Yushukan, a museum of documents and war memorabilia. Also here are a Noh theater and, in the far western corner, a sumo-wrestling ring. Sumo matches are held at Yasukuni in April, during the first of its three annual festivals. You can pick up a pamphlet and simplified map of the shrine, both in English, just inside the grounds.

Refurbished in 2002, the Yushukan presents Japan at its most ambivalent—if not unrepentant—about its more recent militaristic past. Critics charge that the newer exhibits glorify the nation's role in the Pacific War as a noble struggle for independence; certainly there's an agenda here that's hard to reconcile with Japan's firm postwar rejection of militarism as an instrument of national policy. Many Japanese visitors are moved by such displays as the last letters and photographs of young kamikaze pilots, while others find the Yushukan a cautionary, rather than uplifting, experience.

Although some of the exhibits have English labels and notes, the English is not very helpful; most objects, however, speak clearly enough for themselves. Rooms on the second floor house an especially fine collection of medieval swords and armor. Visiting on a Sunday offers a chance to forage at the flea market that runs from morning until sundown.