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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Wednesday 24 March 2010

An afternoon at Shinjuku Gyoen Garden

Rob usually works on public holidays, but on Monday, a national holiday in Japan for the vernal (spring) equinox, he made the spontaneous decision to take the day off. It was a lovely spring day, and we headed out to Shinjuku Gyoen to enjoy the blue skies and calm weather. Honey took a couple of hours off work to join us since she hasn't been to this park before. We saw a couple of trees full of pink peach blossoms (or are they plum blossoms?), and needless to say, there were large crowds of people surrounding these trees taking photos. It's a sign that the highly-anticipated cherry blossoms will soon follow suit, and there were many sakura trees at this park with small flower buds that may bloom in a few weeks time.

Zak was a lot more apprehensive about flowers than last year:




We were running short on time, and since I'd been to this park before, I spent some time on the grass with Zak while Honey and Rob did a quick tour of half the grounds. During that half hour, Zak launched into a few series of fantastic (but incomprehensible) monologues, complete with animated expressions which were hilarious to watch. Kids are such a delight, aren't they?



This trip into Shinjuku reminded me why I really dislike navigating around the station, compounded further by how difficult it is to get around inside this maze of a station with a pram. In fact, I dislike the area so much that the last time I was in Shinjuku was almost two years ago, when Zak was still a little heartbeat in my belly. I will avoid this place if I can help it.

2 comments:

  1. How long have you lived in Tokyo?
    Dear Jeannie!
    Greetings (G'day!) from Shizuoka, Japan!
    How long have you lived in Japan?
    We have many Ozzies in Shizuoka! We even play cricket here!
    Check these friends' blogs in Tokyo:
    http:://foodcast.com/
    http://tokyodrinkunggkass.blogspot.com/
    http://tokyoterrace.com/
    Cheers,
    Robert-Gilles

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  2. Re: How long have you lived in Tokyo?
    Hi Robert-Gilles,
    Thanks for dropping by! I've been living in Japan for almost four years now.. Can't believe how quickly that time has gone by!
    Thanks for the list of Tokyo blogs - I'll be sure to check them out! And yours too :)

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