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Yesterday, we met up with V and her daughter A who are in town now.

Since V had never been to Showa Kinen Park, we decided to check it out since the ginkgo tree leaves are yellow.

But first we had snacks...yakisoba and oden 600 yen (tax included) for each

It's a good thing we ate at the time we did because as we were leaving the park the lines for food were kind of krazy

The ginkgo trees..tons of people because tourism is up and as V said, "it's a holiday"

Sasanqua (camellia)

Japanese garden area

Bonsai area

And then we checked out Ikea

Lots and lots of walking!

At least the weather, even if it was overcast, it was not too hot, not too cold...just right

Thanks for today, V & A, hope you enjoyed today's adventure as much as we did. 

Have a safe weekend.

tachikawa

Today we headed out early to check out Showa Kinen Park.

I've been here a couple of time before the pandemic, it was Satoshi's first time.

The weather was beautiful, no clouds in the sky.

The ginkgo was still a little green but still nice.

There were so many people with their furry kids.

The momiji (maple) in the Japanese garden was at its peak.

Lunch was at Cafe Sov.

Satoshi had their menchi katsu sandwich plate, which he said was delicious.

I had their pie lunch, spinach and mushroom pie and a huge salad with Kamakura veggies.

Loved the atmosphere of this cafe....we'll be back.

It was nice to be out and about.

I'm glad Satoshi was able to experience Showa Kinen Park.

Cafe Sov

2-3-3 Shibasakicho

Tachikawa, Tokyo

Phone: 042.528.2983

Hours: 8:00-23:00

saturday

Back at the end of May, I visited Showa Memorial Park to see the poppies.

Saturday, I went to check out the fall foliage.

The ginkgo were pretty.

So were the sazanka (camellia).

From the entrance to the Japanese garden area was about 1 kilometer (0.62 miles)

The bonsai area of the Japanese garden was pretty.

Some bonsai trees were 300 years old!

Too bad the Japanese garden itself only had a few trees with colors.

I guess with all the weird weather a lot of leaves dried up!

There was also some susuki (pampas grass) which is popular during autumn too.

(If you would like to see a few more photos and some of Mount Fuji, check out the link here.)

I went back to Sesto for lunch...avocado and pastrami sandwich with a cranberry soda (more like a mixed berry soda)...plus I enjoyed fishing out all the frozen berries at the bottom.

After all that walking this sandwich and the fizzy soda hit the spot.

Since I was meeting up with Satoshi after his German class for dinner, I went to Jiyugaoka to have a snack and walk around.

I stopped into La Cialda.

According to Rowena, these are similar to what I know as pizzelles.

I ordered the cialda with the seasonal marron creme (chestnut cream) and a macchiato...so good!

After sitting and refueling, I walked around Jiyugaoka...I always get my directions mixed up in this area.

After walking and window shopping for a couple of hours, I met up with Satoshi and we went to dinner at Fiorata.

Fiorata is actually the Jiyugaoka Bakeshop, but in the evening, they change gears a bit and serve organic wines and Italian style food.

We started with some buri (yellowtail) carpaccio which was served with some pickled daikon.

Drizzled with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil...delicious!

sanma (saury) beccafico...this was so good!

Apparently it is usually made with iwashi (sardines) but sanma (saury) is in season now, so that is how they made it.

The fish is rolled with some bread crumbs, raisins and herbs.

It was served with some tomatoes and orange slices...mmm!

And to end we had some of their bolognese pasta.

It was Satoshi's first time here and he liked the laid back vibe of the place.

I'm sure we'll be back.

My legs were so tired after the day...my pedometer said that I had walked 29,750!...eep!

Still, I'm glad the weather has been nice to get out and about.

tachikawa

From where we live it took me several trains and about an hour and a half to get to Tachikawa.

Tachikawa is still part of Tokyo, but on the very west side of Tokyo.

I had lunch at the station at a bakery called Sesto, before checking out Showa Kinen Koen (Showa Memorial Park).

Hot dog with sauerkraut, olives, cheese and a little ketchup.

I love that this bakery heated up my hot dog and even cut it in half.

I'll be back!

After lunch, I walked to the park in search of the poppies that I had seen on someone's Instagram.

I found out the hard way that there was admission (450 yen)...and that from the entrance I needed to walk 30-40 minutes to the poppy hill!

Apparently Showa Memorial Park is a little smaller than Hitachi Seaside Park (Ibaraki Prefecture)....and almost twice the size of Shinjuku Gyoen (Tokyo)...HUGE!

And with the temps blazing at 34C (93F) it made walking 30-40 minutes kind of painful...

But, look at all these poppies...beautiful yeah?!

Last Tuesday, we had major wind and rain (almost typhoon-ish) and lots of these poppies were "knocked" flat...luckily they revived with the blazing temps.

There was also a bouquet garden which I went through on my way out of the park.

I hope to come back to check out their tulips and cherry blossoms (early Spring) and maybe their autumn colors in the Fall...

Hot, perspiry and just plain gross...I stood in line for these berry puree and custard filled hand pies by Ringo.

Ringo is known for their custard apple pies (which we've tried and love) but for 4 days, they were only selling these...so delicious! glad we tried them.

Despite the heat, it was nice to check out this park and another part of Tokyo.

If you'd like to see some of the other photos/videos I took, please look here.

Sesto
Gran Duo Tachikawa 1F
Tachikawa, Tokyo
Phone: 042.540.2235
Hours: 10:00-21:00
Closed when Gran Duo is

Showa Memorial Park
3173 Midori-cho
Tachikawa, Tokyo
Phone: 042.528.1751
*check site for hours and days closed

Ringo
JR Tachikawa Station
Tachikawa, Tokyo
Phone: 042.548.9585
Hours: 10:00-22:00 (Mondays-Fridays), 10:00-21:00 (Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays)