Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens: Iidabashi

On our way to Koishikawa Korakuen which is one of the oldest and most beautiful Japanese landscaped gardens in Tokyo. It dates back to 1629 when Daimyo Yorifusa Mito, a relative of the Tokugawa Shogun, started its construction. It was completed by his successor Mitsukuni Mito, who adopted a Chinese philosopher's belief of “a governor should worry before people and enjoy after people", hence named the garden Koraku-en (‘Koraku' means “enjoying afterward” in Chinese). Mitsukuni gave the garden a strong Chinese flavor by including traditional Chinese landscaping, besides the Japanese ones. This gave Koishikawa Korakuen a beautiful mix of Chinese and Japanese landscapes with a pond, a man-made hill, stones, and a variety of plants.

What a wonderful adventure we are having in Tokyo admiring the beauty of the sakura flower and the history.

I love how they take care of the trees, with tender loving care they prop the limbs up that need help to survive.

Climbing to the top to see the entire garden.

We have reached the top and the view is fantastic.  Wow, one more place to add to the list of places with a beautiful view of sakura.

I just love all the red bridges 

When the sakura falls from the trees Japanese say it is snowing.

This tree also needed some TLC to survive.  

Lovely sakura flowers

Yoyogi Park~cherry blossom viewing

As we walked to our next destination which is Yoyogi Park, the cool air felt good. I'm glad we are there early with happy crowds of hanami watchers amidst the blooming sakura.

-Many locals among the blue tarps, as sakura season is the public school holiday as well.

Marking their hanami spot with balloon monkeys.  2016 is the year of the monkey.

 -It was fun watching this group of hanami watchers trying to play a game of Twister. 

-We took a stroll around the area where dog owners walk their pets within a fenced area, and playful dogs were running around playing.

-The main area had lots of entertaining people. I heard happy sounds and cheerful laughs. As we got closer I could see why.

- As we walked around people watching, all the happy people put smiles on our faces.

 

-Holding the hand of Marlon while strolling around and looking up at the sakura will be a moment in this adventure I will never forget for the rest of my life.

-Spending time with my BFF Teresa on this once in a lifetime vacation will always be in my memory forever. I could not ask for a better friend.

-Ric, wow, I can't say enough about all his hard work in planning every detail to make our dream come true of being in Japan. 

 -by luck, we even got to see the place where the 2020 Olympics will be held.  

                          

 

Day 1 in Kyoto

Vacation In Kyoto Day 1

by Donna Charles on Monday, April 5, 2010, at 6:48am

Vacation In Kyoto Day 1

I’m happy to be spending the rest of my vacation with my hubby. I want him to experience some of Japan with me. : -) Teresa’s sensei has us booked in Kyoto for 2 nights and then 2 nights in Hiroshima. Marlon booked us a night at Crown Plaza which is located right beside the Narita airport. We have our tickets to ride the bullet train (shinkansen) with reserved seats.  Thank goodness I would hate to have to stand with luggage while we are riding to Kyoto. Marlon had also contacted the front desk which helped us get one huge piece of luggage to the airport so we didn’t have to lug it around. GREAT I don’t know how we would have been able to carry the luggage easily on the trains.

We are packed and on our way, we did stop at McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich and some coffee. I was very happy when I walked in and saw a familiar face so early in the morning. The young girl smiled at me and said chicken taco. A light switch flipped on oh yeah I remember her she was our waitress who spoke some English. Such a sweet nice girl she was in there also with a guy who works at the chicken taco place. : -) We chatted and got our food and headed to find our shinkansen train headed to Kyoto. : -) Marlon has learned how to read the train schedules well which I am glad. I am not bad and think if I had to do it on my own I could.

Marlon and I are in Kyoto and it’s raining but what’s new were in Japan. Thank goodness we don’t have far to go our hotel is right across the street from the train station. Hotel Keihan Kyoto was a nice place and loved the location. We can’t wait to put our luggage in the room and take off for a new destination. We walked along the river where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom in the slight misty rain. Oh, the beauty of these flowers made me say awwwwww so pretty. I was so happy to reach the Gion district, I had done some research on this area and was hoping to get to go here. The geisha girls are supposed to be in this area a lot and I was hoping to see them. We made it to Gion Center where we found a geisha girl Cherry Blossom show that started April 1st. Lucky for us we are here for the first show, Marlon bought us 1st class tickets: -) Our seats were in the balcony yippee….. If I would not have seen anything else in Kyoto besides this geisha cherry blossom show I would have been happy. What a way to start our vacation together. : -) I’m so happy oh so happy……..: -)

After the show, we shopped and bought a few things to hang up in the condo when we return home. Later we searched for a place to eat spaghetti which was tasty with some garlic bread and wine. Walking along the river at night among the cherry blossom trees which were lit was an awesome sight to see. With the addition of the red hanging lanterns, you could imagine how beautiful this view was at night. Back to the hotel, shower and rest up for another day of adventure…….in Kyoto