Hamarikyu Gardens

The Hamarikyu Gardens are a large landscaped garden in central Tokyo. Originally it was built and owned by shogun (at one point even housing an elephant) and then the Imperial family. Unfortunately it was quite badly damaged by bombing during WW2, after which it was donated to the government, before finally opening to the public in 1946. I was reminded of the Rikugien Gardens, which has a similar design and history, but if I were to rank them I would say that Hamarikyu is more impressive.

One of the special characteristics of the Hamarikyu, other than its contrast with the towering office buildings behind, is the Shiori-no-ike pond. The garden backs onto the Sumida River (a waterway that connects to Tokyo Bay) and so this pond is filled with seawater. The water volume apparently shifts with the tide.

Its other feature is this wooden bridge that crosses the lake, plus a tea house in the middle where you can enjoy some matcha.

I only had under an hour to stroll around until the park’s 5pm closure, so I mostly wandered around this large pond. From the park there’s also a couple of opportunities to spot the Tokyo Tower. However with the backlit sun it didn’t make for much of a photo opportunity so I might recommend trying to come in the morning if you wanted a photo of that.

Just like with the Rikugien and other parks with large ponds or waterways, I spotted the usual suspects here - a great cormorant and a little egret.

Also a couple of white-cheeked starlings which to be honest I see quite often these days, but they aren’t particularly photogenic so I don’t put it up on the blog as much (sorry, little guy).

I didn’t realise it until I started writing up this blog post, but the duck I spotted on the water was a new species for me as well - a Eurasian wigeon.

Speaking of new birds, when I left my home earlier that day I had spotted a bird on my walk to the train station I hadn’t managed to take a photo of yet - an Azure-winged magpie. It stopped quite close to me on a fencepost, and as I fumbled for my camera (which I had stowed away in my backpack) it flew off. Drats, I thought.

But then to my delight, after a while of walking through the gardens I noticed a pair of them flitting through the pine trees and I managed to get some shots at a distance. Yet another bird to add to my list!

The nearest train station to Hamarikyu is Hamamatsucho on the JR Yamanote line (a 15 minute walk) or Shiodome on the Oedo and Yurikamome lines (a 5 minute walk).

I’d never visited Hamamatsucho before, so I was surprised by how busy the area around the station was - there was a steady stream of commuters. The garden was a nice retreat from all of that. It’s only 300 yen to enter which really feels like quite a bargain.