Venus Fort, Shopping, Food and Cars!

Going back to December 2010 in Tokyo and I decided to visit Odabai Island and Venus Fort. So what is Venus Fort? 

Well, it's a place with lots of interesting stores. 

Stores for older people and for younger people. And the young at heart.

Along with interesting services. Like weddings. Yes, you can get married at Venus Fort. Actually wedding photos here would be very beautiful. 

The reason why is because of the architecture inside Venus Fort that replicates an Italian city. 

 

Complete with arches, statues and more.

Like this beautiful fountain. 

Reminds me so much of the Venetian in Los Vegas, right down to the day and night lighting.

There are vintage cars in the History Garage and people dressed up as characters

And the occasional Italian street.

 I was hungry since I didn't have breakfast.

 So I sat down at Cobara Hetta for a dish of pasta interpreted Japanese style.

 It was interesting with okra, salmon, mentaiko, nori and grated daikon. The soup and salad were very good too.

 The best part was the view from my table.

(this post was originally posted December 2010)

Autumn in Hibiya Park

Another cloudy day. I decided to visit 日比谷公園,  Hibiya Park again. Nice retro street lights. I would not be surprised if this dates back to the late 1880's, which is when the near-by Imperial Palace switched to electric lighting. Most likely the lamps have been there since June 1st,1903 when the area was made a public park, if not earlier.

I decided on visiting Hibiya Park because of a couple of reasons. One was because there are a lot of trees there so there would be a lot of autumn color. 

And there was. 

The Japanese Garden was beautiful despite the inclement weather.

A view of 雲形池, Kumogata Pond and the crane fountain. The fountain is one of the oldest in Japan. 

  There were a few people enjoying the Japanese garden and pond, but not many, so it was easy to get lovely photos.

While I was walking to another section of the park, I passed by フェリーチェガーデン日比谷, Felice Garden Hibiya. 

 The German style bungalow was built in 1910 and the architect was 福 田重義, Shigeyoshi Fukuda Shigeyoshi. He also designed the Jack Tower, Port Opening Memorial Hall, in Yokohama. 

 The Felice Garden Hibiya building has been the park administrative office, park museum and gallery, and now it's a wedding venue.

One of the bird fountains in Hibiya Park. This time it's pelicans. Hibiya Park is a good place for bird watching. This fountain is located in 日比谷公園 第一花壇, the First Flower Garden.  

 The First Flower Garden was part of what made Hibiya Park the first Western style park in Japan. Even in December there were roses and other flowers blooming there. Unfortunately most of the roses are away from walking paths so getting decent photos of them or even smelling their lovely fragrance is a little difficult. Still, they were beautiful to see.

While parts of the park are in a Japanese style, overall the park was designed in a Western style with a large grass area, venues for concerts and paths wide enough for horse drawn carriages.

While there are a lot of older things in the park, there are newer items. Like 古代スカンジナビア碑銘譯, the Scandinavia Rune Stone. Placed by the 心字池, Shinji Pond, in 1967, it commemorates the first flight between Europe and Japan back in 1957. I previously wrote about Shinji Pond in a 2018 post about Hibiya Park. That post is here http://blukats.blogspot.com/2018/04/hibiya-park.html.  The Japanese garden at Shinji Pond is definitely older. The pond was part of the moat for Hibiya Gate for Edo Castle, and part of the gate wall is still there too.

Even against grey skies, the ginkgo trees looked amazing. 

And so did all the trees. 

Yokohama Part III Yamashita Park

One of the nice things about the Yokohama waterfront is there are wide pathways that you can walk. Including an elevated boardwalk. Very nice views from there looking out to Tokyo Bay or into the city. 

This green copper dome caught my interest.

It is the Yokohama Indian Water Fountain. Inside is a drinking fountain. This was donated by Indian residents of Yokohama in gratitude for assistance following the 1923 earthquake, and in memory of those lost during it. 

Sunset sky was lovely. I wish my photos could show how serene it was.

There is a lot to see along the waterfront. I wish I had visited 山下公園, Yamashita Park earlier. Perhaps another visit is needed in the future. It is a large area.

One of the highlights of the park is the roses. Another is this fountain.

Yokohama's sister city in the United States is San Diego. It makes sense. Both are port towns, both have strong navy ties.

As a gift to Yokohama, in 1960, San Diego gave them a copy of a statue that is in San Diego.

The Guardian of the Waters by sculptor Donal Hord.

I was surprised to see these mission bells. Growing up in California, I am familiar with California Mission history and the 20th century bell markers of Camino de Real. I didn't expect to see them in Japan.

I did expect to see roses. Pretty in the twilight but not easy to photograph in less light. It is lovely to see roses blooming in December.

Japanese Meiji style street lamps. These have a feeling of both western and eastern style combined.

This is the Hotel New Grand with the Yokohama Marine Tower in the background. Built in 1927 after the Great Kanto Earthquake, it was the place to stay for dignitaries and celebrities.

While there have been modern upgrades, a lot of the interior design details have been preserved, along with the architectural details outside. The blog Old Tokyo has photos from a 1940 brochure here https://www.oldtokyo.com/yokohama-hotel-new-grand-picturesque/