The Picnic at Shinjuku Gyoen

Sunday was the perfect day for an afternoon picnic, especially when it meant catching up with my favorite creative girl from New York while she was in town.

The great thing about Shinjuku Gyoen is that it’s never too crowded (well, maybe except for hanami season) and it really is a green oasis in the middle of the city. The warm fall sun and cool breeze felt amazing as we spent the afternoon chatting away.

I wish I had more days like this. It’s so relaxing and nothing beats being with friends.

But all too soon, the melody signifying the park closing began to play…so we packed up and stepped back outside into the city.

Just a side note, did you know that the song that notifies people of facilities closing here sounds like Auld Lang Syne, but it’s actually the Farewell Waltz from the old movie Waterloo Bridge? I mean, that song is also based on Auld Lang Syne so technically it’s the same thing. But who knew that this tragic movie was so popular in Japan that the soundtrack was used as a way to let people know that something is ending?

The things you learn when you’re fact checking your blog post.

Anyways, I didn’t really take all that many photos (too busy talking as always) but here are a few smiles from our picnic 🙂

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3 thoughts on “The Picnic at Shinjuku Gyoen”

  2. As for being surrounded by nature in this area in the heart of urban Tokyo I was also thinking about Meiji Shrine which has some full forest trails to walk about, as well as some lawn areas, and in June that fabulous Iris garden depicted by Hasui Kawase in his woodblock print “Iris Garden at Meiji Shrine.” It only takes about ten minutes to walk from the back entrance of Shinjuku Gyoen to the back entrance of Meiji Shrine, as here: https://goo.gl/maps/JyNFw7Vu13N2. Or about 14 minutes straight down that street to the west of Shinjuku Station toward Yoyogi Station and straight beyond: the street near the South Exit, between Lumine 1 and Wendy’s First Kitchen.

    I was also thinking about the area in your bottom photo recently. An insurance agent I was dealing with had a couple of manekineko on her desk: lucky cats (even here in the States); which reminded me of JazzBar Samurai. It’s on the 5th floor of that orangey building top beyond the right shoulder of the guy wearing the black T-shirt in your bottom photo. The bar has a lot of “Lucky Cats.”

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