Tour Report on the East Garden of the Imperial Palace, 9 September 2023

Many thanks to the guests who joined the tour on that day. We hosted 18 guests from New Zealand, Poland, Germany, Spain, Philippines, Canada, USA, Brazil, and UK. The weather was cloudy in the beginning but later turned fine and hot. But that day was not as hot as in August.

We hope all of you enjoyed and shared interesting conversations with us during the tour. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached to remember the fun times we had. 

Summer is ending day by day but still hot and humid air covered us. Such climate is the reason most Japanese old buildings including feudal lords’ castles were made of wood. People used fire much more frequently in daily life. So fire disasters happened very frequently and were easily spread in the city. During Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868), the period the Edo castle which existed in the East Garden governed the whole of Japan, Edo, former name of Tokyo experienced more than 50 major-scale fire disasters. The castle wasn’t an exception. The stone base during the course, located between checkpoints and the former castle compound area shows the trace of fire occurred in 1850’s. The surface is broken and darkened by the fire. Because it was a time for Japan to transit from feudal to modern era, the stone base was never rebuilt and the whole of castle premise was abandoned.

Even today, most residential houses are made of wood due to such humid climate.

Japan has a unique law regarding the fire incidents. Suppose you burn your house accidently and the fire spread to your neighbors burning their houses, but you are not obligated to pay compensation for the loss of your neighbors. Maybe because fire incidents have been considered like natural disasters. This may be linked to our historical experiences.

It is interesting to learn link between history and modern lifestyle by joining our tours. Please join us!

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(Posted by Masa)