Happoen
After Shibuya’s neon yesterday, I needed some greenery, some nature today. It was a perfect autumn day for visiting Happoen – a garden in the southwest of Tokyo, which I had read good things about.
I got there as the day’s golden light started to fall, making the colourful leaves, the twisted trunks, the meandering path, the mossy stones, and the dark pond even prettier.
The silvery green bamboo grove made me happy. It seemed magical in the fading light.
I liked that the pond’s large rose stones were uneven. They forced me to walk gingerly out to the water’s edge and gave the fish advance warning of my arrival. The bubbling group of them surprised me.
I also liked that the trees had started to get their winter clothes on.
Happoen lived up to its name, which means (according to the guidebook) “beautiful from any angle”.
