I don't even know if you're supposed to call an Emperor "Your Majesty" (nor if you're supposed to capitalize the word "emperor") but Akihito, the Emperor of Japan, turned 80 this year. In and of itself, that's not big news, but it's been decided that the Imperial Palace would be open for five consecutive days in celebration of the event, coinciding with the cherry blossom season. Today was the second of those five days.
Now you've got to realize one thing: the Imperial Palace
never opens to the public unless it's for the New Year's Greeting on the 2nd of January, or the Emperor's Birthday on the 23rd of December. Both those days happen to be in Winter. That's sucky.
So you can imagine that the combination of the exclusive 5-day opening of the castle grounds plus the cherry blossom season would draw quite a crowd, right? So what's your idea of a sizable crowd for this kind of happening? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? A million?
Yesterday drew 4 fucking million people - a figure similar to the entire population of New Zealand. And that was Friday. Today's Saturday.
And I went!
Flowing through the Sakashita Palace gates, I drifted amongst a human sea to look upon the Emperor's palace grounds and the blossoms within.
I expected something truly majestic - like the moment I'd enter those gates, It'd be walls of pink on either side of the crowded inner-palace street, but what I got was something totally different. If you minus the whole crowd of millions, the inner palace grounds are serene, of
a zen-like beauty.
The trees stand in the one place in Tokyo where they are undisturbed for almost all of the 365 days of the year, and have been kept in the same state for many decades. The Emperor's cherry blossoms, they're not huge trees with flowers weeping from great branches, nor are they even numerous. But they do have an ancient feel to them. Their trunks, their branches are gnarly and cracked, with the smaller flowers peaking through the seams.
Against the backdrop of the castle walls and the moat, I felt like it was somewhat of a really authentic Japanese experience. Was it worth the three hour line? In truth, maybe not. I can't say I was overwhelmed with beauty, nor do I know or care so much about the historical significance of the Imperial Palace, but it was an experience I'm glad I went through, if only to say that I did enter through the great palace gates and strolled through the grounds.
But you know, this is the third consecutive year I've spent the blossom season in
Tokyo, and it's grown no less beautiful. The exploson of pink in every
corner of the metropolis really gets you the chance to see Tokyo under a
new lens, and at times, you don't have to go so far or somewhere so crowded to find the best
sights. Though last year I enjoyed the flowers in
Yoyogi Park, and in
Ueno Park the year before that, I found that this time around, my very favorite
cherry blossom spot was just around the corner from where I live. Ah! Simplicity!
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