Categories
Tokyo Travel

Hamarikyu Gardens

The Hamarikyu Gardens is one of my favorite places in Tokyo. It us located next to the Tsukiji fish market on Tokyo Bay’s shoreline. In the old times there was a villa used by the Tokugawa family in summer, after the shogunate was abolished Hamarikyu became a recreation area for the Meiji Emperor and his colleagues (Japanese aristocracy). On those times, late XIX century the Emperor was able to go from his palace to the Hamarikyu Gardens in a boat following some channels. Nowadays those water channels are lost, and instead we have zillions of skyscrapers in Shiodome and many fancy shops and department stores around west Ginza. Good news is that the gardens are not any more “property of the Emperor”, the gardens became public and can be visited almost any day of the year.

Japanese aristocracy living in Tokyo liked to practice duck hunting, horse riding and tea ceremony in Hamarikyu. Nowadays the visitors can still watch ducks (Hunting is not allowed 🙂 ) and also drink tea in a traditional tea house. Also, near the entrance the is a 300 year old pine, it seems Shogun Ienobu planted that pine.

hamarikyu garden
This is the tea house in the main island.

What I like the most of Hamarikyu is how nicely pruned is every single tree and how much does the park change depending on the season. There are some flower fields with many species that blossom in different seasons painting the landscape with beautiful colors that vary depending when you visit the gardens. I also like the water channels and lakes, all the water in the park is connected to the Tokyo Bay an the water level varies with tides. Furthermore, the channel and ponds structure is supposed to be zen, and if you see the map the legend says that it was designed so that it looks like a zen garden (karesansui) where the lakes are the rocks and the greenery is the sand. This is the aerial view of the park, do you see the “zen”? I can’t…

hamarikyu garden

The park opens from 9 AM until 5 PM, and it costs 300 yen. There is a 10 minutes walk from Tsukij-shijo station (Oedo line), here there is the detailed map. I usually go from Ginza station, it takes around 20 minutes. The best plan is to eat Sushi near the fish market, walk and relax en Hamarikyu and then take a ferry (The last one departs around 16h) from a pier that is inside the park. The most interesting ferry rides will transport you to Odaiba or Asakusa where you can finish the day watching some temples (Asakusa) or enjoying some Tokyo skyline views (Odaiba).

These are some of my Hamarikyu pictures taken since 2004 with many different cameras (Nikon E5200, Fuji S9000, Canon IXY9000, Nikon D40):

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden
View more pictures of these flowers, you can enjoy these colors visiting Hamarikyu in August.

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

hamarikyu garden

Categories
Travel

Back from Spain

I’ve been for a while in Spain, and I was lazy to update my English blog, I’m sorry! These are some of the pictures I took during my stay in Spain.

calp calpe spain
The University where I graduated some years ago invited me to talk in a conference.

calp calpe spain
My family.

calp calpe spain
Signing books. Yes, I wrote a book about Japan! (Sorry, it’s only in Spanish). First edition is already finished!

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain
My book next to Dragon Ball!

calp calpe spain

These are some pictures from my town, where I lived all my childhood.

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain
Paella with my friends Albert and Alberto.

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain
Classical music concert.

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain
Yes, my camera was wet after this picture. I took at 10mm.

calp calpe spain
Playing Settlers of Catan.

calp calpe spain
Trabajando un rato.

calp calpe spain
All these veggies are from my parents field.

calp calpe spain
Tourism is the fuel of Spanish economy.

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain
My father learning how to take pictures with a new camera I brought them from Japan.

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain

calp calpe spain
An advertisement about my book next to the sea.

Categories
Travel

Chuo Shinkansen

“Chuo Shinkansen” is the name of a new bullet train line using maglev technology. The distance between Tokyo and Osaka(550km) will be covered in less than one hour!. Isn’t it amazing? Sometimes I spend more time moving between stations inside Tokyo. They will finish the construction by 2030.

chuoshinkansen

Tokyo and Osaka are connected with a Shinkansen line since 1964. You can travel from Tokyo to Osaka in 2:30 hours, the Nozomi trains are the ones with the highest average speed in the world. More than 300 hundred trains travel from Tokyo to Osaka every day transporting nearly half million passengers. Some trains have 16 wagons and are able to carry around 2.000 passengers. The average delay in the last 40 years is only 20 seconds. It’s like these two cities are connected by a metro line.

The new “Chuo Shinkansen” will connect even more these two megalopolis. There is already a test track working, and here is one of the tests showing a train moving at speeds near 600km/h:

More info here.