Seimon-Ishibashi Bridge
View of Seimon-Ishibashi Bridge and the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, with the high-rise office towers of the Marunouchi financial district in the background. Thousands of visitors gather to enter the palace grounds for the New Year's greeting, where the Emperor, Empress, and other imperial family members appear on the palace veranda.
Kokyomae Hiroba
A visit to the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo revealed an urban landscape where towering steel-and-glass office buildings contrast with the neatly manicured lawns and sculpted Japanese pine trees (matsu), all under a crisp winter morning sky.