Yoyogi Koen in Shibuya

Sorry for this delayed post. It must have slipped my mind to post it right after we arrived home from our strolling at the huge and forest-like Yoyogi Koen, located in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

We visited the park at a time when the leaves were just starting to change from the cool greens of summer to the awesome shining colors of autumn.

Here's a brief yet interesting description from Japan-Guide.com:

Yoyogi Koen (Yoyogi Park) is one of Tokyo's largest city parks, featuring wide lawns, ponds and forested areas. It is a great place for jogging, picnicking and other outdoor activities.

Although Yoyogi Park has relatively few cherry trees compared to other sites in Tokyo, it makes a nice cherry blossom viewing spot in spring. Furthermore, it is known for its ginko tree forest, which turns intensively golden in autumn.

Before becoming a city park in 1967, the area where Yoyogi Park is located today, served as the site of the olympic village for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and before that as a residential area for US military personnel.

When we visited the park a month ago, roses of all colors abound around the entrance gate, freshly welcoming visitors and inviting them to a grand tour of the wide park proud to have numerous ginko tree species that brighten your rather gloomy day -- right in the heart of the thickly-populated Shibuya area.

It is just too bad that we aren't able to go see the trees transform in autumn colors. Maybe next time. ;)