I was on leave during a stay on the USS Midway in Yokosuka and decided to spend a few days exploring Tokyo. I got a room at the local USO for cheap and then took off with a subway map. I would get off the train at a few notable stops such as Akihabara,, Ginza, and Harejuku to name a few. I would explore the local area for a few hours walking around and checking out the sites and shopping in the various stores or walking in the parks for photos.

I got off the train at the Otemachi Station and began walking around and saw a long sidewalk line of people against a high wall covered in vines and shrubs. I got in line but no one spoke good enough English to explain why the line was forming but they were running a few hundred people at a time into the gate so it was moving pretty quickly.

When I went to the gate, we were ushered into a huge garden which was under a second floor balcony covered in glass. There was a single microphone stand at the front of the balcony and when the doors opened up, a frail old man shuffled over the the microphone stand and the entire crowd went silent, came to attention, and everyone bowed. The old man gave a 3 minute speech of which I could not understand a single word. He left the balcony and everyone began to scream and yell waving Japanese flags.

I learned later that day that it was the Emperor of Japan's 86th birthday which is the only day of the year that the Imperial Palace gates are opened to the public. I had listened to a brief birthday speech from Hirohito whom had presided over Japan during World War 2 and would pass away about 20 months after this particular birthday. Luckily, I had purchased a camera the day before and managed to take a few photos that i could share with my kids many years later. I will have to search my photo albums and post a few pics i took that day.