The inner palace is off limits to the public, however the tour will take place on the surrounding palace grounds owned by the imperial family.
Explore the main entrance to Edo Castle and learn about strict gate security, samurai hierarchy, and social rules that still shape aspects of Japanese culture.
Learn about the three security checkpoints and their role in maintaining order within the castle.
Explore the Tokugawa peace strategy of requiring daimyo to regularly reside in Edo.
Understand the scale and structure of Edo Castle, along with stories of life within its walls.
We will view a teahouse constructed in the Meiji time period, and discuss Japanese Tatemae.
Walk past trees representing each prefecture before concluding in a traditional garden, where you’ll learn the key elements and philosophy of Japanese garden design.
Begin at the entrance, examining the moat and yagura (turrets) while learning about historical castle defenses and how they compare to modern Imperial security.
Sophie was fun, knowledgeable and answer our multiple questions. The length of the visit was perfect for our timeline today. We learned a lot and highly recommend this tour.
Lena was a fun and charming tour guide. Knowledgeable and very friendly. A very detailed tour of the gardens.
Informative and very pleasant tour of the gardens. Definitely recommend.
One of the best tours we’ve been on! The meeting point was really easy to find and Kei was a fantastic guide and super friendly, knowledgeable and able to explain the history in a fun and engaging way. His English was excellent and he gave us a great insight into the local history and the Imperial Palace from the get go. As we were the only ones who decided to continue with the tour due to the rain, Kei tailored the experience to us from the very beginning, which made it feel really personal. When the rain got heavier, he went above and beyond by finding us a sheltered place to rest, which was very welcome after all the walking and gave our toes a much-needed break! Kei made the whole experience enjoyable despite the weather and his friendly approach and knowledge really stood out. Highly recommend this tour!
Really good Sophie is really lovely, helpful and informational.
I really enjoyed Sophie’s tour! She’s an amazing guide! The tour was very interesting and her English was easy to understand, it was important for me because I am not native English speaker:) I had a great time, thank you, Sophie!
The tour was wonderful, and our guide, Léna, was amazing. She spoke beautiful English and had extensive knowledge of Japanese history. We learned so much and had a fantastic time. We truly loved this experience and highly recommend it!
Sophie was a great tour guide! Very knowledgeable and made the tour really fun and interesting. Made me want to learn more about the history of the Imperial Palace. Thanks for making our stay in Tokyo even more memorable!
Very informative with a nice sense of humor to boot. Enjoyed it even in spite of the summer heat!
Lena was an amazing tour guide at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. She was knowledgeable, friendly, and made the history of the palace come alive with her engaging stories and clear explanations. She answered all of our questions with enthusiasm and made sure everyone felt included throughout the tour. Thanks to Lena, our visit to the Imperial Palace was both enjoyable and memorable. I would highly recommend her to anyone visiting Tokyo!
The tour guide was very friendly and made sure everyone was involved in the tour. We got some spots to take photos and a break inbetween. The content of the tour was very informative and she was able to answer our questions about the area and time period. I had a lot of fun!
I really enjoyed my time exploring the beautiful gardens whilst also learning so much modern and historical information about the area! My guide was super knowledgeable and kept it interesting the whole time, so was definitely worth going on the tour 😊 I enjoyed getting to catch a glimpse of the animals in the garden as well !
Thomas is really friendly and understanding:) This is the best tour I’ve ever been on in my life!! After the tour, he gave me recommendations in Tokyo as well. This is a cannot-miss activity for your Japan trip 🤩🤩
Thomas was awesome! He was extremely knowledgeable but never made it feel like a history lecture. He mixed interesting facts and stories with plenty of humor, and kept us engaged the whole time. It felt more like we were hanging out with a friend than being on a guided tour. We learned a lot, laughed a lot, and had a great time.
Thomas and Sophie were excellent guides providing a vast range of knowledge (cultural, historical, nature and pop) along the whole way. Also really engaging, fun and positive people. I couldn't recommend enough :)
Lena & Sophie did a great tour with us, showed us all the interesting spots at the imperial palace and shared the history around it My friend had a bunch of questions and they were able to answer everything without hesitation! Amazing experience 🥹
The experience was beautiful and the guides were very nice and prepared. I went with Sophie and Lana!
Lena and Sophie are so nice and friendly, they shared a lot of fun facts with us! I definitely recommend :)
Thomas was great and made us feel at home in Tokyo! Great photos for a great price and I will definitely reccomended to all my friends :)
very chill and fun. guide was very knowledgeable and gave great info also was fun talking with
WOW! This tour was so amazing! Our tour guide Sophie was incredible knowledgeable about the history behind the Imperial Palace. Our friend had many questions that she had answers to all of them !!
I enjoyed the tour with a knowledgeable guide who has plenty of interesing points about the area and Japan in general.
Great tour of the Imperial Palace gardens. Thomas is a friendly and knowledgeable tour guide, he taught us plenty of interesting facts about how the past and present of the place. I recommend it!
Amazing experience! The guides were super knowledgeable and funny. I went solo but felt very welcomed and learned a lot about Japanese history and culture!
Such a good experience! Our tour guide was super knowledgeable and friendly. We went into the interior garden area and got lots of great info and cool stories about the area. Would definitely recommend!
Nice blend between historical facts and how they blend with the culture of today. Also very funny.
I really liked everything we talked about and the humor was really funny!
Really interesting and guide knew well history. The enthusiasm could feel by the audience. Interesting points about trees, modern buildings around and emperors privacy. Thank you a lot. Family from Finland.
We had a lovely guided hike at the palace and in the garden. Our guide Lena was really informative and very friendly. We could also ask about Japanese culture that didn't have anything to do with the trip. I highly recommend taking a guided tour, you get a lot out of the visit. It is also an advantage to visit the Edo-Tokyo Museum or the Fukagawa Edo Museum before or after your tour to gain an even greater understanding of the place and its history.
We had a fantastic trip with Lena, where she shared her knowledge very nicely. We were very inspired and had a good experience. She was very good at explaining and taking the time to go into detail. We enjoyed her company.
The tour was entertaining and informative
Super 5-star experience. The guide was super kind, careful, and explained everything clearly and precisely; even under a huge rain, they kept our attention. We loved it and recommend it to everyone.☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️
He explained Japanese history and culture well. I didn't think the Imperial Palace would be so fun!
An incredible experience, and the guide was super friendly and funny. He made the visit very fun.
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