Tokyo seems to be pretty good about making sure that the city has a bunch of green space mixed in with the in-your-face modernity of the majority of the city. I’ve been to a few of these areas so far, though I think the Imperial Palace East Gardens might be my favourite.
My visit started quite memorably — the place is formerly a castle, so it’s surrounded by a watery moat. There was a heron standing in the water, staring intently at a specific spot.
In one impressively quick motion, he suddenly had a fish in his beak, and then he just sort of hung out for a few minutes (I think he was trying to figure out how to eat the fish without dropping it in the water).
Eventually, he made a few skillful moves, and that fish went right down his gullet.
The rest of the visit wasn’t quite as dramatic, but it was no less memorable.
The place was quite impressive, so I think I’m just going to shut up and let the pictures do the talking.
And speaking of birds, I saw these two guys on my way out. I have no idea what they were doing; they were just standing there flapping their wings, like a couple of old guys doing calisthenics in the park.