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Tokyo castle awaits guests

The main official residence of the emperors of Japan opens the doors to tourists. For the first time ever visitors will be able to get to the Holy of holies-in the halls of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Open guided tours will be conducted in the spring of 2014 – 24 and 25 may 2014.

This event will be timed to the 80th anniversary of Emperor Akihito of Japan.

Each tour day is planned for three group excursions, each of which take part will be able to about 50 people, according to NHK, citing the information service of the Imperial court.

It is also reported that later will be additional excursions, but the exact date of the re-opening of the halls of the Imperial residence has not yet been announced. It is expected that the second time the Palace will open its doors to the public in October, 2014.

As it became known from the preliminary information provided by the Directors of the Imperial court, sightseers can visit the main hall of the state “Seiden matsu-no-MA”, which traditionally held the ceremony of enthronement of emperors, acceptance of credentials of foreign ambassadors and Prime Ministers.

Room will be shown to the guests from the adjacent corridor as he state hall access will be closed, but from this vantage point visitors will be able to fully enjoy the luxurious decoration of the main hall of the Imperial residence. Guests of the Palace can see the reception hall “Teladan" Banquet hall "Hamadan”.

In February, 2014 official website of the office of the Imperial court will be published the exact dates and information about application procedure to visit the Palace.

Reference: To date, the broad public was opened only a small part of the Park area, adjacent to the Palace (“Oriental garden”) and the Museum of the Imperial collections.

The architectural ensemble of the castle of Tokyo, covering an area of about 7.5 sq. km. consists of buildings in different styles – from modern European to traditional Japanese because after the Second world war, the residence of the Japanese emperors also rebuilt because the building was damaged during the hostilities.

The Imperial Palace in Tokyo was built on the territories of the ancient castle of the shoguns, was completely destroyed during a massive fire in 1873.