Hey Hive!
If you missed the last couple of posts, we're currently on a new journey through Japan with my family and Sean, starting from Tokyo! Since we've been here before but it's my relatives' first time we had to bring them to all the popular spots we visited previously already, but it's all good.
Last week, we brought my relatives shopping around Akihabara, then went to Tokyo Skytree where we visited the planetarium!
It was such an awesome experience and one that I've been looking forward to for so long! And after shopping and looking around we had a nice dinner and Sean and I went to the arcade to chill for a bit!
19 December 2017. Tuesday.
The hotel we were staying in doesn't include breakfast so we had to get our own and we went out earlier to get our favourite thicc toast from Daily Yamazaki! I wrote about this previously but this is my absolute favourite breakfast bread - thick buttery toast with cheese, bacon slices and a sunny side egg in the middle, it's delicious!
We decided to bring them to a nature spot today, specifically, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden!
The weather was nice and perfect too - with a cloudless blue sky and it was cooling although it was bright out.
The air felt so cool and fresh out here, even with the sun shining.
So just a little background info, Shinjuku Gyoen is one of Tokyo's largest and most popular parks, especially around cherry blossom viewing/hanami season.
The entire park is comprised of 3 different types of gardens. There is a traditional Japanese landscape garden featuring pavilions and large ponds with islands and bridges. The park's other main gardens include a French garden and an English landscape garden featuring open lawns surrounded by flowering cherry trees. There is also a greenhouse with special tropical flowers (Source: Japan-guide).
The entire park is really huge at 58 hectares, so we decided to just focus on one of the gardens, specifically the Japanese traditional garden.
Obviously it wasn't very green when we visited since it was the middle of winter, but the blend between the architecture and nature was still a sight to behold.
The whole atmosphere in the garden was so calming and peaceful.
There were even ducks gliding across the surface of the water!
And I think the unique colours of the trees; a blend of red, orange and dusty greens made for some really great shots, especially with the sun rays.
I bet photographers would have a field day in this place.
I was so glad I got a new phone for this. It was like every shot could be a nature wallpaper.
Since it was winter there weren't that many people around so I didn't have to worry too much about people blocking my shots or coming into frame, thankfully.
We came to this wide open space that I imagine a lot of people would have picnics in, with blankets, snacks and all.
Sean wanted to do some pose so I asked him to do a handstand and he did!
After that we just walked around, taking in the beautiful scenery and lots of photos!
There's something about the trees in winter without their usual full luscious crowns of green that are still so beautiful.
I can totally see why this park is so popular. It's so spacious and peaceful; a perfect place for a stress-free getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life even just for a couple hours.
Eventually we found one of the pavilions here and I love how it just blends seamlessly into the background here.
I feel like I'm ruining the beauty of the landscape by being in the photo.
I love this shot - just the building in the background and that red tree shining in the sunlight. I'd probably sound pretentious if I said it symbolises something but I just think it's pretty. Also nature > "man-made" nature?
This is probably one of my favourite shots from this day. This is the aforementioned red tree, that looks almost pink in the light. It's like a cherry blossom tree in winter. That, coupled with the rainbow from the sunlight makes it looks straight out of a fairytale or something.
Here's another angle:
Another shot of the pavilion but with a rainbow this time!
I couldn't really take good photos within the pavilion, since it was way too bright outside, and the other side of the pavilion was just a wall.
I found a bench in the middle of this path and it looked like it would make a nice shot so I told Sean to sit there. It's alright I guess.
The water here was barely moving so to test it, Sean threw a pebble and it actually cracked the surface of the frozen lake! It was actually really cool! This area must not get enough sunlight so the water froze.
Here's a quick video I took of our "experiment":
I found these maple leaves on the cobblestone floor and thought it looked pretty artistic.
Oh man, if you read my previous posts you'd know I'm a sucker for water reflections.
On and on we walked, and we actually came across a couple of older gentlemen artists just sitting and painting the landscape! And damn, they're good! His paintings are legit.
After a couple of hours, my family was grumbling about being tired and hungry so we left and headed off to find some food. I could definitely have stayed there all day just immersing myself in the beauty of nature but oh well.
At least we explored most of the Japanese garden, which was what I was most interested in anyways. So we left and ended up in a Chinese restaurant because my relatives are boomers.
They had varying sets and some of the sets included some appetisers like salad and wantons.
This was Sean's set of chicken and mixed vegetables and some other side dishes.
This was my fried rice set with a fried spring roll, gyoza and soup:
The fried rice was actually pretty good! Tbh I was still very full from breakfast so I didn't really have much of an appetite, but I tried my best to finish it. Overall it was pretty average; what you'd expect from a Chinese restaurant anyways. There's definitely much better food around Shinjuku that is cheaper and more tasty, but whatever. My mother chose this place so.
I think that's going to be it for today! Hope you enjoyed our journey through Shinjuku Gyoen! Next week: we go do more shopping!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #115 (Japan 5.0: Tokyo): Shopping and Stargazing in Sky Town! 🌠
