JOURNAL ・ FIELD NOTES

Gyoko Street's Golden Avenue ― From Tokyo Station to the Palace, a Road of Gilded Ginkgo

In Marunouchi, Tokyo, a single broad avenue runs straight from a red-brick station toward the Imperial Palace. This is Gyoko Street. In late autumn, the four rows of ginkgo lining it turn gold all at once, and a corridor of light rises, quite suddenly, in the very heart of the city.

A road of gold, running straight toward the station

Step out of the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station and a wide, generous avenue opens before you. This is Gyoko Street. In late autumn, when the ginkgo on either side turn yellow, the light seems to pool even on the pavement, until the road itself looks as though it is glowing. Turn around, and there is the red-brick station building: deep reddish brown, edged in white stone. Against that solid, weighty wall, the golden leaves look clearer and brighter still. The neatly planted trees draw a straight line that converges on the building. It is this contrast, this sense of order, that moves me anew each year.

The hour when the city glows most quietly

Gyoko Street is a city road, hemmed in by office buildings. Yet in this one season, those straight lines of concrete become a soft band of gold. As the sun sinks, the leaves take on an amber tone; after dark, the illumination and the lights of the buildings layer together into another mood entirely. I have spent more nights than I can count in the emergency room, racing against the clock. Perhaps that is why a few minutes standing here at dusk feel like such a luxury. To walk over fallen leaves and simply look at the station building — that alone is enough to loosen the heart.

From Tokyo Station to the Palace, one straight line.
A corridor of gold that appears only in late autumn.

Planning your visit — season

The peak is brief, concentrated in late autumn.

The ginkgo of Gyoko Street usually reach their best from around late November into early December. The height of the colour lasts only a week or two, and the leaves then fall quickly. At the peak you will find a golden avenue; once the leaves begin to drop, a carpet of gold spreads across the whole road. The timing shifts a little from year to year, so it is worth checking the latest reports before you set out.

Getting there

Gyoko Street is right outside the Marunouchi exit of Tokyo Station, served by JR and the Tokyo Metro. Walk from the Marunouchi central exit toward the Imperial Palace and you are already at the head of the avenue. It is also a few minutes from Nijubashimae Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line. The golden road meets your eye the moment you leave the station — a view that hardly seems to belong to the centre of a city.

Tips for photographers

Begin by standing in the middle of the avenue and framing the station building head-on, for a symmetrical composition. The four rows of trees and the red-brick building balance neatly to left and right. Golden leaves can easily blow out, so pulling the exposure down a touch keeps the depth in the colour. The light is softest in the morning and evening, when the red of the building and the yellow of the leaves blend most beautifully; time your visit to the illumination for a different image again. Because the avenue is so wide, placing a few small figures in the frame conveys the grandeur of the trees.

While you're in the area

Follow Gyoko Street toward the Palace and you reach the open lawns of the Imperial Palace Outer Garden, where pines and autumn colour greet you quietly. Head back toward the station and you find the Marunouchi brick district and KITTE Marunouchi, whose rooftop garden looks down over both the avenue and the station building. To take in historic red brick and the modern city in one continuous walk is a pleasure unique to this corner of Tokyo.

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