A person with an umbrella walked by the wall of the Imperial Palace in the deserted Kyoto Imperial Garden

Person with an umbrella walking along the wall of the Kyoto Imperial Palace — Kyoto Imperial Palace Wall

When a light rain started to fall on the Kyoto Gyoen, where not many people were walking, I felt that it was even less crowded. On this day, the Kyoto Gyoen was empty. The rain was adding to the effects of the new coronavirus. That's what I thought as I headed for the entrance of the Kyoto Imperial Palace in the garden.

But the reality was a little different. The new coronavirus and the rain may have had an effect, but the Kyoto Imperial Palace, where I was heading for, was closed. When I arrived at the Seisho-mon gate, the entrance to the Imperial Palace, the gate was closed and some policemen were standing in front of the gate. It didn't look like you could just walk through the gate and enter the palace from any angle. When I asked about it, I was told that it was not open to the public on this day. Too bad.

No wonder there were so few tourists wandering around the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It was a mistake to come here without thinking about it. I should have done my homework beforehand. When I visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam and the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow, Russia, I couldn't visit them because they were closed. I was a little depressed because I felt like I had not grown up at all.

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