This post was written in 2008. Some information may be out of date.
I suspect not many people know there’s a huge garden in Shinjuku. About a 15-minute walk from the South Exit of Shinjuku Station, there’s a place called Shinjuku Gyoen. It used to be an imperial garden, and now it’s open to the public.
I was in Shinjuku with some time on my hands, wandering around, when it suddenly struck me that for one reason or another I’d never been, so I took the chance and went. As far as I know it has closing days and is only open until 5 in the evening. It’s a bit different from your usual park..
Forest scenery
Judging by how I always take this kind of shot no matter which forest I’m in, I guess I just like scenery like this.
The lawn
I strolled around listening to Kettel’s “Shinjuku Inn” and Giovanca’s “Pure Bliss” on my iPod. It was the ultimate walk.
The lawn
Since admission is 200 yen, there’s no riffraff; the visitors were almost all families, couples or groups of women. I love the quiet, laid-back feel right in the middle of the city.
The lawn
The building in the back is the Docomo Tower in Yoyogi.
A bench with an autumn feel
I sat down for a rest and got bitten all over by bugs. Guess it’s still summer.. It’ll have to get a bit colder before the bugs go away.
A quiet spot
Hardly anyone here even on a weekend. The power of 200 yen, I suppose.. Seems like a nice place for a date.
Garden scenery
This is the English-style garden. There’s a Japanese garden inside the park too, but after this shot my battery died, and when I swapped in the battery I’d bought at IKEA a while back, the camera wouldn’t work -_- So sadly, this is as far as I got.
It’s still hot, but autumn will be here soon. The appetite I lost over the summer should come back soon too, so I’m really looking forward to that. I really like Shinjuku Gyoen apart from the bugs, but outside of dates or family outings it’s kind of hard to know what to use it for. Maybe I need to hurry up and find a date or start a family.. For me that’s still a long, long way off.