Imperial Palace East Gardens: the Edo castle foundations and a manju

What was once the largest castle in the world is now stone foundations and lawn. That sounds like nothing left to see — until you stand on the keep base and look out in every direction, and understand immediately why Tokyo grew here rather than somewhere else.

Two hours in the East Gardens. You enter by the Ote-mon gate and walk the walls — stone fitted together with NO mortar, held by weight and angle alone, a technique that has kept these walls standing through four centuries of earthquakes. Then up onto the keep base: the site of a 58-metre tower that burned in 1657 and was never rebuilt — that decision is a story in itself. Below it, the Japanese-style Ninomaru garden is planted by season, so something is in flower in any month.

It ends with manju and tea at the tea house inside the grounds, then out through the Kitahanebashi gate. Flat, wide paths, fine with a pushchair or a wheelchair. Garden entry is free — what you're paying for is the guide, the annotated map and the tea. The gardens close Mondays and Fridays; the tour schedule already avoids those.