Free Observatories in Shinjuku

Inside the Tokyo Municipal Government Building #1 (there is a building #2) are 2 observation decks on the 45th floor (North Deck and South Deck). They offer an excellent view of Tokyo and it is open to the public. When we visited there were many Chinese tourists and they were all taking selfies using a selfie stick.

 A view of Shinjuku Gyoen

Shinjuku Gyoen - Japanese Traditional Garden

A lovely garden in the heart of Tokyo. Very popular in the spring for the cherry blossoms and fall for when the foliage changes colors.

Shinjuku Gyoen - French Garden

The park is in three main sections, the French Formal Garden, The English Landscape Garden and the Japanese Traditional Garden.

These roses are from the French Formal Garden.

A link to the garden map can be found here.

Shinjuku Gyoen - The Greenhouse

If you visit Shinjuku Gyoen, you must also visit the Greenhouse. The greenhouse is impressively large, impeccably kept and a wide variety of tropical and subtropical plants and flowers.

Descriptions of the varieties of plants throughout

Shinjuku Gyoen

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the largest parks in Tokyo. The park originated during the Edo period (1603 - 1867) as a feudal lords palace grounds. It converted to a botanical garden before being part of the Imperial family's who used it for recreation and visiting guests. After suffering complete devastation from WWII it reopened in 1949 as a public park.

The park consists of a traditional Japanese garden and tributes to traditional English landscape garden and a symmetrically arranged French Garden. There is also a magnificent greenhouse featuring tropical and subtropical plants and flowers. The park is extremely popular during spring when the cherry blossoms bloom as the park is home to a great number of these trees.

The English landscape garden has over 400 somei yoshino trees. The park is also popular in the autumn, especially the Japanese garden and Momijiyama (maple mountain)with its numerous maple trees.

Path walkway surrounding the park

Part of the path walkway around the park itself.

Park Entrance