Our 301st entry in our digital diary is our trip to Showa Kinen Park, again! hehe. We have ever so longed to do biking at Showa Kinen Park. But the times we visit here are either too cold to bike, or we ran out of bikes to rent. But now, since it’s summer season, we made sure to come here on a weekday! 🙂

We arrived at lunch time so we had our lunch first at our usual, Jonathan’s. And then, when we entered the park, we finally got a chance to rent a bike. Hooray! 🙂

The weather is perfect for biking as it is cloudy. There is no heat of the sun to drain our energy. So we just biked along and stopped at interesting places we see.

We saw nice flowers along the way, so we stopped to take closer looks at their summer season blooms. For this season, they have lots of hydrangeas.

We went biking again and Sai is so happy to see a playground so we made a quick stop at the play area. 🙂

It is a perfect day for playing around as there are no crowds at all. We enjoyed jumping, swinging, and sliding… and most of all, resting. 🙂

We bike again and our next stop is the net playground. 🙂 This net playground is quite challenging as it is very difficult to move around. Only Sai spent effort and time in it. hehe 🙂

In a nearby area is the mist field. I haven’t seen this before even though we have been here in the net play area. The mist might only be available during summer time.

It’s scary walking in the mist as you can imagine some horror scenes from movies with mist themes. 🙂 We enjoyed hide and seek in the mist, but you might need to hold hands together so as not to get lost in the void. haha 🙂

There is another trampoline area near the misty park so we visited it as well before journeying again with our bikes.

Our next stop is the Japanese Garden. Yes we are in Japan, I thought everywhere is a Japanese Garden. haha. But nope, Japanese gardens have distinct theme in it, even the plants are different from outside gardens in Showa Kinen Park.

It’s very relaxing in here. The greens are so fresh and you want to inhale every bit of air in this place as it smells so pure. 🙂

We used to go here for Autumn when a lot of crowds are in the area. Specially the Japanese Garden where lots of red and orange trees are surrounding every path. But for now, we are enjoying the quietness of the place and how beautiful summer season is. 🙂

We visited the bonsai exhibits. Most of the bonsai trees are very old, like hundreds of years old.

The oldest one we saw is 400 years old. Imagine! How many generations of people taking care of these trees? Amazing indeed. 🙂

The Japanese Garden was created to celebrate the marriage of the Emperor and Empress of Japan. With a pond in the center surrounded by a strolling path, the garden provides a calming atmosphere no matter when you visit.

The seasons of fresh greenery, fall foliage, and “yukitsuri” (placing of ropes or wires around trees to protect them from snow) are especially recommended. The garden also includes facilities such as the National Museum of Bonsai and Kanpu-tei, where you can enjoy matcha tea and seasonal sweets.

This garden have light ups during the winter season when it gets dark earlier than usual. We have not tried that though but we wish to see it someday.

We always walk in stone paths every time we see one. We hope to see fishes in the pond. There are fishes but not that much. They may be somewhere else in this vast pond. 🙂

Our last stop was the Japanese Garden. We just biked all around until our 3-hour rental is done. Then we checked on the famous fountain by the entrance gate before exiting the park.

And that is our peaceful, restful, and enjoyable trip to Showa Kinen Park. We hope to visit again to bike around. 🙂