Thank you for joining our tour to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace on May 11. We welcomed 39 guests from U.S.A., Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Canada, Russia, UK, Brazil, Peru, Netherland, Poland, and Mexico. The guests are divided into 5 groups.
The weather was very hot but dry and a little windy. It wasn’t so hard to get sweaty. The maximum temperature was 28 degrees. It was the hottest day of this year. It seemed to be early summer.
The KITTE building is one of the great view points of Tokyo Station.
Tokyo Station is the starting point of our tour to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. Tokyo station was restored to the original state 7 years ago. Station square was also renovated at the end of 2017. Many buildings surrounding Tokyo Station have been rebuilt in the past 17 years. Therefore the scenery surrounding this area has changed dramatically. The KITTE building located across the Marunouchi south exit of Tokyo Station was built and opened in 2013. The KITTE building was built at the place of former Tokyo Central Post Office. The former building was built in 1931 and evaluated as one of the buildings representing modernized architecture in the early Showa period. A part of the exterior wall of the old building is restored to its original state and preserved. The KITTE building has roof garden on the 6th floor. This garden is small (about 1,500 square meters) but a variety of trees and turf are planted and several benches are placed at this garden. You may be able to get comfortable field of view. This observatory command panoramic view of Tokyo Station and the modern tall building surrounding it.
From the KITTE garden, you can see beautiful scenery not only during the day but also at night. Tokyo Station is illuminated from sunset to 9p.m. . The KITTE garden has been designated as a night view inheritance of Japan since August 2018.
This garden open 11a.m. to 11p.m. (weekday and Saturday), 11a.m. to 10p.m.(Sunday and holiday) and free of charge.
In addition, Tokyo central post office on the first floor of the KITTE building may be interesting place for foreign tourists. Japan Post issues 40 to 50 commemorative stamps in a year. There are a variety of commemorative stamps related to Japanese art, culture, history, nature and so on. For example, the folding screens of Wind God and Thunder God, Kabuki, and Meiji restoration as shown in the following photo. Quality of the stamp such as color, printing is very good and design is also sophisticated. These commemorative stamps are sold for each set of 10 stamps and costs 820 yen. Commemorative stamp may be one of the best souvenirs for foreign tourists. It is reasonable cost, easy to carry and showing the unique features of Japan.
Moreover, small store in the post office deals in various souvenirs such as traditional Japanese souvenirs, post office related goods such as letter goods, frame stamps, railway related goods, mascot character goods. There are many attractive goods for tourists. So the KITTE building is worth visiting to enjoy seeing panoramic view and finding attractive souvenirs.
Tokyo Central Post Office open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (weekday) and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.(Saturday, Sunday and holiday).
We are looking forward to welcoming you on our tour.
(posted by Kuma)