Cities are my space. I like the speed, the hustle of the traffic and pedestrians. It’s no secret the Jardin du Luxembourg (Paris) is one of my all time favorite spaces. Central Park (New York City) is an amazing, diverse space and now I’m getting around to a few different parks in Tokyo.

In this post I wanted to share my newest find, Gyoen Nation Garden in Tokyo. Gyoen is just a few minutes by foot from Shinjuku Station’s east exits. Unlike all of the other parks I’ve been to there is a small fee of 200yen (about $1.60USD) to enter. There are several gates around the park helpful directions and maps provided in several languages.

When I visited the park I didn’t have any particular part I wanted to see so I just started wandering around the paths. Unless you have a very specific part of the park you’d like to see, I would suggest the same approach. There’s really no wrong way to go around the park.

Over the bridge.

One of the entrances to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Just to the right of the turnstiles you’ll find the machines to purchase your tickets. (200yen/$1.60USD)

Results of my bird hunting.

Bird hunting. I ended up joining this group for a little while and had fun ‘shooting birds’ in this beautiful tree.

NTT DOCOMO building at the edge of the park.

There’s no wrong way to go.

Making art in the park. I found it especially interesting that compared to the birders shooting hundreds of photos at 10fps of a little green in a cherry blossom tree, this artist takes a different approach. He sets up his beautiful large format camera, checks the composition over and over and will most-likely end up with one photo from his visit to the park. Different strokes…

Artists inspired by the park’s beauty.

I was surprised to see just how colorful the park was even in the dead of winter.