Musashino and Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
Inokashira Park is an expansive park located in western Tokyo that was declared open in 1917 as the first sub-urban park in Japan. Spread across an area of around 38 hectares, it straddles two cities - Musashino and Mitaka. In addition to a zoo, it's also home to the highly sought after Ghibli Museum that was officially opened in the last quarter of 2001.
My BFF and I took a train ride to Kichijoji railway station that's located to the northeast of the park, walking through a few streets flanked with various shops to reach our destination.
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| I believe that's a restaurant specialising in deep-fried chicken wings. |
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As the Ghibli Museum is situated at the southwestern side of the park,
it's about 1.1 km away from the northeastern entrance. |
Inokashira Pond, established during the Edo period, is one of the primary sources of Kanda River.
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Most geese are vegetarian, while ducks are omnivorous.
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I guess those are white cherry blossoms.
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The water was unfortunately rather murky near the bridge.
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We spotted a small well from where people drew drinking water in the past.
We enjoyed the sight of the various flowers at the park. I was, of course, in anticipation of pink cherry blossoms.
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| "Flowers grow out of dark moments." ~ Corita Kent |
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Just like nature, our lives have their seasons. The going gets tough at times,
but we grow and get better each time, right?
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After visiting Inokashira Park Zoo, which shall be featured in the next post, we walked towards the Ghibli Museum to see how it looks like from the outside.
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You can't buy tickets from Totoro at the museum. You need to get them in advance
either online or from any JTB travel agencies overseas. |
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The museum has got a rooftop garden.
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My heart was full when I finally saw what I was looking for.
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| I should've done a picnic too, following the century-old local tradition. |
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Did you know that there are more than 600 species of cherry blossoms in Japan?
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Flowers that have up to five petals are called hitoe,
between five to ten petals hanyae and more than ten petals yae. |
A time capsule, perhaps?
We bade farewell to the cherry blossom trees and made our way back to the big pond.
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| Do you enjoy the sound of water stream? I do, but my mother doesn't. |
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We had a rather late lunch at Isentei, a simple eatery facing the pond.
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There's a small temple at the park.
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The temple is dedicated to Benzaiten, a Japanese Buddhist goddess
who originated from Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge and the arts.
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| "Purity or impurity depends on oneself, no one can purify another." ~ Gautama Buddha |
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Sanrio's Keroppi came to mind when I saw that drawing of a frog.
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Not far from the temple is a tablet engraved with a musical score of a song about autumn.
If you're interested, you can ride on a rowboat, a cycle boat or a swan boat.
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A rowboat can accommodate up to three adults,
a cycle boat two adults and a child, and
a swan boat two adults and two children. |
Thanks to my high school friend for mentioning about Inokashira Park before I went for that trip. Otherwise, I wouldn't even think of going there as it's quite a distance away from central Tokyo.
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