The interior of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo is off limits to the public, The inner grounds can be visited by joining the official tour. Only offered twice a day in Japanese with English audioguides available. The application process for the tour must be completed at least four days ahead but you’ll be lucky to get in unless you’ve booked at a month out. We didn’t.
Rejoice garden fans. There are Imperial gardens open to the public and are free. The Imperial Palace East Gardens were first used by the Tokugawa shogunate. This was the Edo period between 1600 and 1868. Perfect destination for a morning stroll. A quick subway ride, a bazillion steps into and out of the subway and we were passing the palace security check and entering the grounds through a massive gate.
