After what seemed like weeks of rain (my first introduction to Japan’s rainy season), we’ve finally come into some beautiful sunny weather! Every day recently, we’ve woken up to the sun shining in our windows with temperatures ranging from the 60s to the 70s. With such gorgeous fall weather, I was itching to get out and do something active! Japan is known for its breathtaking gardens, carefully cut bonsai trees, and huge parks even within Tokyo, despite being such a bustling metropolis. After deciding we didn’t quite want to make the full 1.5 hour trek into Tokyo, we decided on a park that is only a few metro stops away from home.
On our way to the park, we passed a thrift store that we ventured into–Treasure Factory or Tre-Fac. The thrift stores here are nothing like the ones in the States! This thrift store was extremely upscale, well organized and chock full of brand name clothes.
After perusing the thrift store for awhile, we were on our way once more to the park. I didn’t buy anything–finding my size here can be a little challenging. I’m already tall (5’11”) by American standards, so no wonder the clothes here run a little small!
When we got to Showa Kinen Park, we were surprised to find out that you had to pay to enter. The entrance fee was ¥410 per adult–roughly $4.00 each.
(Side note: the dollar to yen conversion rate has been down the last couple of weeks, so we’re actually getting stuff a little cheaper than we were awhile back! Usually, ¥10,000 = $100, just drop two zeros off the price tag and that’s your dollar amount. However, right now the dollar is at the highest level against the Japanese yen that it’s been in 8 months, so ¥10,000 = $89! )
You could see the promising yellow foliage within the park from outside the gates, and many people were picnicking and enjoying the field outside the park without even going in.
Once inside, we soon realized that this park wasn’t like any park we’d ever been to back home! The impeccable groundskeeping was on a whole different level, and the scale of this park was unbelievable! Showa Kinen Park is named for the Emperor Showa, also known as Hirohito. The grandeur evoked by this park’s fountains, tree studded walks, and breathtaking gardens is no doubt a tribute to his legacy. Emperor Showa became the symbol of Japan’s recovery after WWII, and during his reign Japan rose from relative obscurity to the world’s second largest economic power.
For a Tuesday afternoon, there was still a good amount of people in the park. This park is definitely a prime viewing area for fall foliage, so I’m sure that was drawing the crowds. Or maybe it’s always pretty busy–if so, I can understand why!
One thing I’ve noticed about Japan is that people are obsessed with their pets here (I suppose if I paid $2000 for my cat, I’d be obsessed too)! I’m guessing that the high costs are to dissuade people from letting their cats and dogs become strays. Last year, Tokyo’s governor took steps towards a campaign that would make Tokyo a no-kill city for animals. In the picture below, you can see that the price tag on this kitty is roughly $1990.
Anyways, back to the park! We saw a lady arranging her dogs in front of the reflecting pool and snapping pictures of them with her professional camera. They sat perfectly still too–they’d been trained for this! A crowd quickly gathered to take pictures of her dogs too, with one girl murmuring “kawaii” or “cute.” I understood that word–the whole Japanese culture of cuteness is encompassed by the word “kawaii” (think Hello Kitty, small baby animals with huge eyes, young anime female characters, etc.).
We walked and we walked: around a lake filled with ducks and paddle-boats, down crunchy leaf-covered sidewalks, across fields scattered with picnicking families and through archways of trees exploding with color.
We asked a stranger to take a picture of us–the universal sign language for snapping a photo translates across language barriers! He bowed several times and spoke rapidly to us in Japanese the whole time (afterwards we realized he had been trying to get us to move back another step so we were in the sun instead of the shade!) Maybe I should work on learning Japanese a little harder!
We passed by a Barbeque Garden (reservations must be made 2 months in advance), an 8.5 acre bird viewing sanctuary, tennis courts, sports fields, a frisbee golf course, a dragonfly marsh, and the Sakura Grove (two popular destinations in the springtime). However, we had our eyes set on getting to the Japanese Garden, and there was no way we’d have time to do everything in one day! This park is so massive that there are multiple cafes and restaurants scattered throughout, a train ride that you can take as an alternate to walking, and bicycles you can rent for a separate set of bike trails so that you can cover more ground.
Nestled in the back corner of the park we found the Japanese garden, complete with bonsai trees, viewing huts overlooking a small lake, and a tea house if you needed a light snack and some hot tea to hold you over.
Even though it’s mid-November, there are still many green leaves covering the trees! Peak fall foliage isn’t until the end of November for Tokyo. We made our way around the lake, where we were met with several majestic bonsai trees! I didn’t know bonsai trees could be so big!
By the time we left the Japanese garden, the sun was starting to fade from the sky and we could feel the promise of evening sweeping in with the cooler air. We’d spent about 4 hours meandering through the park, and still hadn’t gotten the chance to see everything! A park for every season, I was sure we’d be back to see the Christmas lights in the winter, and spring being ushered in by fields of tulips and the cherry blossoms in the Sakura Grove.
But this night, it was time to head back to home, sweet home.
This is so great! I feel a part of your adventures.
Thanks for doing this