Imperial Palace Tokyo location and how to get there

The Imperial Palace occupies the center of Tokyo, in Chiyoda Ward, on the ground of the former Edo Castle. GO TOKYO puts the grounds at 1.15 square kilometres in central Chiyoda Ward.⁷ The Japan National Tourism Organization describes them as around 115 hectares divided into four main parts, three of which are open to visitors.⁸

The address the Agency gives for the East Gardens is 1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.¹ A street address is of little use in a city where houses are numbered by the order they were built, so a Tokyo Imperial Palace map with gate names works better. Tell a taxi driver Ote-mon or Kikyo-mon, or show a map pin, not the number.

The practical consequence is that there is no single entrance. The East Gardens have three gates, Ote-mon, Hirakawa-mon and Kitahanebashi-mon.⁹ The official tour gathers at Kikyo-mon Gate.³ The outer plaza, the viewpoint for the double bridge, is open ground reached from the south. Pick the gate first and the station second, and the walk becomes short and obvious.

Otemachi Station is the most useful subway stop for the East Gardens. Ote-mon Gate is a five-minute walk from it, and the station is served by the Chiyoda, Tozai, Marunouchi, Hanzomon and Mita lines.¹⁴ That makes it a hub, and it is the likeliest place for a visitor with a pass to change trains.

For the official tour the stations are Nijubashi-mae on the Chiyoda Line and Otemachi on the Mita Line. The Agency gives about 10 minutes on foot from Nijubashi-mae Exit 6 and from Otemachi Exit D2 to Kikyo-mon Gate.^3,4 Know your exit number before you leave the platform, as the stations are large and a wrong exit adds minutes above ground.

On the north side, the Hirakawa-mon and Kitahanebashi-mon gates are closer to Kitanomaru Park, and both are a 5-minute walk from Takebashi Station on the Tozai Line.¹³ Hibiya Station is 10 minutes from the gardens of Kokyo Gaien.⁵ Choose the station that matches your gate, not the station that looks closest on a map, because the moats make straight lines misleading.

Here is a workable plan for a first visit. Arrive at Otemachi Station and leave by the exit for the Mita Line, which is Exit D2 according to the Agency, then walk about 10 minutes to Kikyo-mon Gate for the tour.⁴ After the tour, the gardens are close enough to reach without a second subway ride.

If you begin at Tokyo Station, give yourself about 15 minutes for the walk to the gate.⁶ Allow a little extra for the first visit to the Marunouchi side, where the station's long facade can confuse the sense of distance. Morning is the right time, because the gardens open at 9:00 in every season.³⁷

Finish at Ote-mon, where Otemachi Station is about 5 minutes away for the ride onward.² A guided walk can follow the same sequence: the listing for this site lists a 2-hour walk that starts in the East Gardens and ends with the Ninomaru Garden. The route is short enough to fit into a half day, with lunch in between.