Bubby and Sissy Take the East Coast: Tokyo and the Edo Castle Mystery

We spent a few days in Tokyo with the goal of visiting Edo Castle. Well! That was an adventure. Our friend Bruce and I became like Scully and Mulder working on a case. There is SO, SO much conflicting and fake information regarding Edo Castle online. It's extremely confusing. After hours of researching, we were left believing it could be any of 4 different buildings on the Imperial grounds. There are ruins on the grounds of the foundation of the original Edo Castle that burnt down in the 1600s, but no other information about the rebuilt castle (which many sources had said it was rebuilt). Well, after days of searching and studying and taking a tour of the Imperial Palace and grounds, it turns out that Edo Castle doesn't exist!! It did, in fact, burn down in the 1600s, however it was never rebuilt. The royal family lives in the Imperial Palace, and the only piece of Edo Castle that exists is the empty stone foundation. So, if you ever google or research Edo Castle, all pictures that come up are NOT of the castle! They are all of other buildings on the Imperial grounds, even though most of them are labeled as the castle - it's not true! Even if you google the Imperial Palace, almost all the photos are of other buildings on the grounds - you'll be hard pressed to find a photo of the Palace, which is quite underwhelming and plain. If any of you had planned on travelling to Tokyo to see the castle, just know that Edo Castle doesn't exist, and most info online about it is false!

The grounds are pretty though, and it's amazing to see the many moats that lace through them. There are swans, ducks, and herons that grace the moats. Still worth checking out!