TOKYO, JAPAN:  Boats float on a pond surrounded by cherry blossoms at Kitanomaru Park in Tokyo 05 April as the flower-viewing season reaches its climax. The park is considered to be a prime site for enjoying cherry blossoms.   AFP  PHOTO (Photo credit should read KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

Kitanomaru-kōen

Tokyo


This large park north of the Imperial Palace is home to noteworthy museums as well as the Nippon Budōkan concert hall. The gate at the park’s northern end, Tayasu-mon, dates from 1636, making it the oldest remaining gate to the Edo-jō compound. The park's western edge is bordered by the old castle moat, Chidori-ga-fuchi, which is a popular cherry blossom viewing spot in spring.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

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1. Crafts Gallery

0.12 MILES

This red-brick building, an annex of MOMAT, stages excellent changing exhibitions of mingei (folk crafts): ceramics, lacquerware, bamboo, textiles, dolls…

2. Science Museum, Tokyo

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Featuring a wide selection of exhibits aimed primarily at children and teenagers, the Science Museum has little in the way of English explanations, but…

3. Chidori-ga-fuchi

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This section of the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace is one of the city's most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots. There's a 700m-long…

4. National Museum of Modern Art (MOMAT)

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Regularly changing displays from the museum's superb collection of more than 12,000 works are shown over floors 2 to 4; special exhibitions are mounted on…

5. Tayasu-mon

0.23 MILES

Dating from 1635, the northern gate to Kitanomaru-kōen was once part of Edo-jō and is designated as a national important cultural asset.

6. National Shōwa Memorial Museum

0.25 MILES

This museum of WWII-era Tokyo gives a sense of everyday life for the common people: how they ate, slept, dressed, studied, prepared for war and endured…

7. Kitahanebashi-mon

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Meaning 'northern drawbridge gate' this was the principal entrance to the north side of Edo-jō and now provides access to the Imperial Palace East Garden…

8. Tenshudai

0.3 MILES

Near the north exit of the Imperial Palace East Garden, all that remains of the main keep (donjon) of Edo-jō is its sloping stone base, which you can…