Tokyo Bicycle Diaries: Tetsugakudou Koen

As the summer is truly well on its way, we decided to take more time to explore and enjoy the city we live in. It's so easy to get into a routine and forget to see the things that are even just one street away from our usual path. To be more effective, we got me a bike and have started exploring parks in the vicinity of our apartment. The first two attempts were somewhat disappointing as we got rained on both times (rainy season oblige). This time we had more luck and ended up at Tetsugakudou Koen (or The Philosopher's Park in the Nakano area of Tokyo.

It is called the Philosopher's park because it was designed by Japanese philosopher Inoue Enryo who tried to materialize 77 philosophical doctrines. I'm not entirely sure we understood all 77 viewpoints, but we did enjoy walking around the relatively large park and admiring the buildings in different styles and colors, the walkways through bamboo, cherry trees and over koi-filled ponds. It is definitely a park to keep in mind for cherry-blossom viewing (a few massive Soumei Yoshino cherry trees) and for autumn-leaf viewing - although seating and space is quite limited.

PRACTICAL INFO
Price:          FREE
Address: 　1-34, Matsugaoka, Nakano City, Tokyo
Access:       12 min on foot from Araiyakushi-mae station (新井薬師前) on Seibu Shinjuku Line
                   12 min on foot from Ochiai-Minami-Nagasaki station (落合南長崎) on Toei Oedo Line