皇居 (koukyo) - Imperial Palace. Second Try...

As it was the last chance to visit the palace during my stay, I managed to get out of my bed pretty early and made the trip to Tokio station (about 90 minutes from Atsugi). The area was cramped with police and secret service people with wires hanging out of their ears, but security was expected to be high when large numbers of people are piped through the palace. I guess it was not only meant to protect the emperor but also protect the large crowds. There were even guards on horses, although the horse didn't feel too comfortable with all those people around...
Of course it started to rain when I reached the palace but unfortunately I had no umbrella. In contrast to my planings, the organisation of the 宮内庁 (kunaichou - imperial household agency) was typically Japanese - all details perfecty planned. Roads around the palace were closed so nobody had to worry about traffic. People offered japanese paper flags (for free) before you entered and offered to collect them again after leaving the palace so that no flags are littered around. Of course you could keep the flag if you wanted to ;-).
After a security check we were finally allowed to enter the palace, walking over the famous めがね橋 (Meganebashi - Eyeglass Bridge).(Quicktime movie)
A large stream of people was piped through the palace garden and up the hill towards the main building. Everything, i.e. the style of buildings, trees, etc. made a very tidy and planned impression. It would have been a very nice view, if the weather would have been better.
Finally we reached the huge square in front of the main building. Guards were standing on poles to fill it with people in a ordered manner, which, of course workes flawlessly. Fun thing to note: Even standing on their pole the were not much larger than me ;-)