parks – awordfromjapan

Osaka’s World Expo Memorial Park (万博記念公園) is where the World Expo took place back in 1970. The theme was Progress and Harmony for Mankind, reflecting the optimism of the time. Countries from all over the world built fanciful and futuristic pavilions to showcase their most advanced technologies and as an expression of their national prestige.

The pavilions are long since gone, as is the landmark tower that formed the centrepiece. In the intervening 49 years, the area has been transformed into a wonderfully diverse park and recreational area, with forests, lawns, flower displays and natural habitats, as well as a very extensive and beautifully landscaped Japanese garden. I reckon the park is about 3 km long, and would take at least half a day to see everything.

Here’s my list of 10 things that make it a great day out:

You arrive there by monorail.

Monorail — This is what the future looks like. In 1970. Now where’s my jetpack?

2. It’s really good value

Entry fees in Japan tend to be quite expensive. But it only costs about €2 to get into the park, and you can stay there all day.

3. The Tower of the Sun

The Landmark Tower is gone, as are all the national pavilions. But one monument still stands: 太陽の塔　The Tower of the Sun. This strange artwork, which greets you as you come in through the main gate, has three faces representing the past, present and future.

4. Expo 1970 featured some genuinely historic technological developments

The very first IMAX film was shown at Expo 1970. The Expo also featured maglev trains, mobile phones, local area networks and a rock that had been brought back from the moon by American astronauts the previous year. People must have really felt like they were living in the future.

5. Forest footbath

There’s a place in the middle of the forest where you can sit and relax with your feet in hot water for 10 minutes. For free (except you’ll need to buy a towel for 200 yen if for some reason you came to the park without one). It’s really quite agreeable, if you disregard the sign saying “Watch out for the snake!”

There are bags of herbs floating in the hot water. Possibly as snake-deterrent.

6. The ソラーデ “sky promenade”

There’s a wooden walkway extending for several hundred metres at treetop level. This is a lovely immersive way to experience the forest environment, surrounded by green leaves and birdsong.

7. So much nature

There are dozens of different zones and habitats from marshes and forests to lawns and formal gardens. At various times of year you can experience cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, azaleas, poppies, tulips and irises in full bloom. It’s amazing to think that this forest wasn’t here 50 years ago – it feels like it’s been here forever.

8. Lots of information

If you can read a little Japanese, you can really learn a lot about the birds and trees in the park.

9. Carts for hauling your children around

Loads of people had these little carts containing their infant children as well as picnic and barbecue equipment. I hadn’t seen this before (but I guess I’ll be seeing it a lot in future, because it’s such a practical idea). The children seemed really content.

10. The Japanese garden

We only saw a fraction of the Japanese garden because it extends over a couple of kilometres and we were getting tired from all the walking. But it is a really beautiful place, expertly laid out to create a sense of tranquility and serenity.

There is a huge park at the end of our street.

The name of the park is Ooizumi Ryokuchi, and it’s about 1.3 kilometres long in a north-south direction, and around 800 metres wide. Within its boundaries, it offers an amazing variety of different kinds of environment and amenities: woods, lakes, small hills, gardens and facilities for various kinds of sports.

The yellow sign is in the characteristic shape of a gingko leaf. Gingko is a very familiar tree in Osaka. The main road alongside the park is lined with them, as is Midousuji Avenue in front of my office building.

First thing every morning, since we arrived in Japan last March, I go for a walk with the dogs in the park. Very often we go there in the evening too. In this way, I’ve got to know Japanese nature in its various moods, and experienced a full cycle of seasonal changes.

Yesterday evening we were out for our evening walk and it occurred to me; the one place I had visited more than anywhere else, that I had got to know and love, had not yet featured in a blog post.

So I decided to go out this morning and take some photos. Fortunately, the day was hot and sunny.

This is the main park building. It includes a covered platform built out into the lake.

In front of the park building, stretching out along the main north-south axis of the park, is an area of formal lawns and flower-beds.

Nearby is a “sensory garden”:

One aspect that I like a lot: as well as the paved roadways, there is a separate network of paths called 樹のみち　ki no michi—tree roads, which also link up all the different parts of the park, but allow you to experience it in a completely different way.

Thanks to the policy of hanging signs on the trees, indicating the type of tree, I have been able to learn a lot about Japanese trees. This one, for example, is a kind of evergreen oak tree called arakashi (Quercus glauca).

Here are pine trees and camellias in bloom.

This sign shows the way to the “King Tree”.

And here’s the king tree – a largish camphor tree right at the edge of the park. Compared to the 500-year-old camphor trees in our local shrine, it’s not particularly big. But in a park of relatively young trees, it is the king

At this time of year, the plum trees are in full bloom.

There are many cats living in the park. They are generally well-fed; some people come along at night and feed the cats, although you are not supposed to.

This sign asks people not to abandon cats or dogs in the park.

While this sign warns that abusing animals is a crime.

The rule is that dogs must be kept on a lead in the park. However, there is a newly-developed area of the park (we call it the “future park”) where hardly anyone ever goes except us. When there is nobody else around, I let the dogs off for a run. Here, Shiro has crossed the fence and is exploring the real “future” park; an area that has been acquired but not yet developed as parkland.

This is the sakura no hiroba—cherry field. In a few weeks, this will be crowded with people enjoying o-hanami. But for now, a few people are taking advantage of the warm March sunshine to enjoy a picnic lunch.

And this is hitsuji no hiroba—the sheep field. In a place where sheep are a less familiar sight than in Ireland, the park has three young rams on display.

And another reminder that we have been here for almost a year: the park’s plant market will start on 17th March.

Like most of the people we see working in the park, this worker wears a “Silver Sakai” sweater. He is one of an army of “silver” workers, past retirement age, who keep everything clean, meticulously maintained and in perfect condition.

Note on the word of the day:

公園　kouen, a park, is written as 公　public and 園　a garden.

大泉　oo-izumi literally means “great spring”. In fact, however, 和泉 Izumi is a historical name for this area (now the southern part of Osaka prefecture, the portion that lies to the south of the Yamato River). So the name of the park recalls the old name of the province. 和泉　has an unusual reading, because the second character 泉　is pronounced izumi while the first character 和　meaning “peace” is not pronounced at all. Such unusual readings/pronunciations are very common in this part of Osaka.

Tag: parks

10 reasons why Osaka’s World Expo Memorial Park is a great day out

公園　kouen—park