甘泉園公園 (February 18, 2010)

My random, desktop image of the day comes from nearly 16 years ago. The “tree tents” (雪吊) are there for days like that one in February (although I don’t think there was enough snow to make them useful).

Posted on October 21st, 2025 under Japan. Tags: snow, Tokyo, winter, yukitsuri, 甘泉園公園. Comments Off on Tokyo snow

Yukitsuri are common throughout Japan, even in areas that get little or no snow (like Tokyo). These “tree tents” are supposed to save the branches from accumulating heavy snowfall.

Posted on June 12th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: nishi-waseda, pine, yukitsuri, 甘泉園公園. Comments: 1

Today’s photo is from Kansenen, the nice little park near our apartment in Shinjuku Ku. The building is Nishi Waseda Park Tower, a building that we saw daily out the window of our apartment even though we were on the ground floor. This residential tower is currently the 35th tallest building in Shinjuku Ku. 25 of the tallest 35 buildings in Shinjuku Ku were built since I left Japan in 1989. Needless to say, things look very different in Tokyo and will continue to change at a rapid pace I’m sure.

Nishi Waseda Park Tower is either on, or right next to, what was once Waseda University’s baseball stadium (Totsuka or Abe Kyujo, 戸塚球場, later called 安部球場). Most of the baseball field now has the library sitting on it.

While looking at an old map of the area, posted next to an old shrine, one day I noticed the stadium on the map and asked the lady who was chatting with me how long ago the stadium was there. She had fond memories of watching baseball games there in her early years. Now Waseda plays its baseball games at Jingu Stadium.

Posted on November 22nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buildings, nishi-waseda, 甘泉園公園. Comments Off on Nishi Waseda Park Tower

As promised, I took some cherry blossom (sakura) pictures of the Kanda River this morning. In the above photo some people are staking out a spot for flower viewing (hanami). Blue tarps are always used for some reason.

We sat on one of the blue tarps this past weekend at a hanami we were invited to attend. There weren’t many flowers yet, but the food was great, the company much more pleasant than the non-smiling faces above indicate, and we played loads of tennis with them too.

Everyone (except those suffering from allergies I suppose) loves sakura, but there are three groups who really love the cherry blossoms. They are the photographers, …

… the kids, …

and especially the (old) ladies (with a camera).

Kansenen Koen (甘泉園公園) has only one cherry tree. What it lacks in numbers it makes up for in magnificence as that one tree is really spectacular.

Basho’s hermitage is in the background of the above photo. The river is once again the Kanda.

Watching this guy try to get a picture of his bulldog along with the cherry blossoms brought a bigger smile to my face than the blossoms themselves. Everyone is happy when the blossoms are out. It’s a great time to take a walk and see everyone smiling, even if you can’t get your pet to grin.

Posted on March 30th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: cherry blossoms, ellie, people, pets, ryan, sakura, 甘泉園公園. Comments Off on Sakura

I walk through Kansenen Park at least a couple times a week on my way to Waseda University. The college students haven’t discovered it as this oasis is always empty or nearly so. The colors have changed now that we have reached December so it is more beautiful than ever. These photos may make it look like the place was deserted, but there were actually about a dozen kindergarteners playing “hide and seek” so the place was a bit noisy (in a good way).

I happened to be leaving at the same time as the kids. They all bowed to the park at the exit and said “また来るね” (which means something along the lines of, “we will visit you again”) which was my sentiment as well.

Posted on December 9th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: japanese maple, kids, 甘泉園公園. Comments: 1