Feb 2

Feb 2 Asukayama Park in Oji, Kita City, Tokyo

Japan, Kanto region, Tokyo Metropolis, Kita City, Oji

📍 Asukayama Park, 1 Chome-1-3 Oji, Kita City, Tokyo 114-0002

There are so many things to mention about this hidden treasure of Tokyo. Given that not many tourists know about this park, therefore it is way less crowded here during Sakura season than the popular Ueno Park that is located just a few stations away.

The park is located just south of Oji Station. A small free monorail connects the Station to the North side of the park, and is for sure the shortest, slowest, and smallest passenger working monorail! The free journey between the bottom and the top takes about two minutes. On the way!

Nice and Quiet

This is a really nice and quiet place for a peaceful visit and it has a rich history as one of the oldest parks in the city.

It is said that Yoshimune Tokugawa, the 8th shogun of the Tokugawa clan, ordered over 1,000 flowering cherry trees to be planted here during the Edo period, in the 18th Century, to create a diversion for Samurai families stuck in Edo (former name of Tokyo) due to the Sankin-Kotai System; let’s keep it simple, the Sankin-Kotai was a kind of luxurious hostage system, so yes, thousands of Cherry Trees blossoming during Spring time could potentially bring a bit of a more cheerful scenery!…

That is quite a pedigree. About 650 trees still remain to this day. Asukayama Park is supposedly also the first public cherry blossom spot in Tokyo to have allowed visitors to picnic and consume alcohol, this is called a “Hanami”.

This wooded hilltop park was once the estate of Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931), president of Japan’s first modern bank; he was a leader in business and finance who fostered the growth and development of the modern Japanese economy.

The park’s main attractions are the ‘Asukayama Three Museums’, which stand in a row at the park’s eastern edge: The Paper Museum, The Asukayama Museum, and The Shibusawa Memorial Museum.