Kitanomaru Park

Kitanomaru Park is a public park in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward, covering what used to be the northern bailey of Edo Castle and lying immediately northwest of today's Imperial Palace. Until the Meiji Restoration this was the ground of senior daimyo residences; the area was opened as a commemorative public park in 1969 to mark the 60th birthday of the Showa Emperor. Several institutions of national importance sit inside it today, including the Nippon Budokan, the National Museum of Modern Art and the Science Museum. In April the roughly 280 cherry trees along the Chidorigafuchi moat turn dense pink and the park becomes one of the most popular hanami spots in Tokyo; the rest of the year it is a calm, slightly elevated island between the office towers.