parks: mizumoto koen

this past tuesday, i was invited to a picnic in tokyo. the park, mizumoto koen, is in katsushika-ku. i'd never heard of the park before, so i was curious to see what it was going to be like. though i have no reason to be (because i've been to some great parks within tokyo) i'm usually skeptical about parks IN tokyo.

i took the joban line for about 10 minutes from kitasenju station to kanamachi station. then i caught the keisei bus (either #61 or #62 will take you there) from right outside the station's north exit for another 10 minutes (210yen, flat rate). from there, i walked yet another 10 minutes (following signs and the general flow of people) passed all the old men fishing in the canal. the road went uphill a bit and suddenly the area opened up into this huge open area overlooking a river. there was a big baby blue bridge crossing to the other side, but i walked along the river, surprised by the fact that suddenly i didn't feel like i was in tokyo at ALL.

there were more men and kids fishing in the river, koinobori and people strolling along the path, which wound around to a huge grassy knoll.


on the outskirts of the grassy area were little clusters of trees that provided great shade for picnickers.

our picnic was on the back side of the hill but before lunch, i wandered back over the hill and found a very shallow man-made river that kids could walk through and play in.

past that were some typical japanese "fair food" booths.

the weather was perfect and the picnic food was delicious. it was fairly international: japan, korea, myanmar, russia, usa, malaysia and probably a few more represented, and everyone brought something.

seeing so many cute kids running around, laughing, being KIDS made me almost wish i had kids. the park also made me miss home. the park's huge grassy area reminded me of my own grassy backyard (something almost UNHEARD of in tokyo) in rural ohio where i grew up running around, playing in the sandbox, spontaneous games of wiffle ball with my dad and brothers, swinging on the singset...and then it hit me: if i raise a kid in tokyo, he or she won't have that in the backyard. it would always have to be an outing to the park, not just running out into the backyard.

but i guess then again at least there are some amazing parks in tokyo to make up for the lack of backyards. and this one i will definitely be going back to. especially now that the weather is becoming beautiful and my hoops should be here this week!!