Behind its great plaster walls, it is very hard to get a glimpse of Kyoto's imperial palace, save applying with your passport at the imperial agency for an official tour of the grounds. Beside this rather infuriating process, the palace opens its gates twice a year for the viewing public. Many more rooms are opened and treasures displayed, thus the whole parkland becomes a giant carpark and the masses descend like some re-enactment of revolutionary France.
Gosho has the distinction of being the second place I had a date with Rhod, and it seems somehow fitting that I should visit on our anniversary, albeit without Rhod who was working.
What I really wanted to see was the private chambers of the now-Emperor, his bedroom, the TV, his bathroom, the things that tell me he lives just like me and you but with a few more perks. What we got was a rather sober tour of buildings that are beautiful but rather simple and plain.
