Amazing Autumn

Autumn is almost over and the Winter chill has set in, but what an amazing experience its been.

I have mentioned before in previous posts how definite and severe the weather changes have been in Japan, and we were told prior to coming across that the 4 seasons were all something to enjoy..........only now do I really appreciate how right everyone was!

Over the past month we have tried to get out and about during the weekends to see the Autumn leaves and season change. Last week we spend the morning in a large park called Shinjuku-Gyoen. Its very close to my office and we have heard about it but had never been there.

The park used to be closed to the public and was only used by the Imperial Family but a couple of years ago they decided to open it up. There was a small charge per person to enter but once inside, we felt that we were a million miles out of Tokyo. Huge sprawling lawns and thick jungle like walks are separated by large ponds and a small river. Once and a while you catch a glimpse of a skyscraper in the background and it brings you back to reality.

We must have looked pretty silly to everyone else in the park as we all lay around on the grass...something we haven't done for over 5 months! Sarah and I ran around having running races and playing catches - it was awesome to see her being able to run freely and was my first slight regret since arriving in July....I miss not being able to run around in our own garden with kids. Anyway, at least now we have found an awesome location and will be visiting pretty regularly going forward!

This morning we tried a different park, The Imperial Palace east gardens.

Previously we have been to the imperial palace, actually a few times but we had never known about being able to access this part of the palace.
We caught the subway from our place and got off North of the Palace, we then made our way down and eventually entered the Gardens. The security to get in is pretty tight but we didn't have to pay which at the moment in line with the current economic conditions is a good thing!

It was so interesting wandering around a part of the palace, walking through the Huge wooden doors and over the large moat just as all the warriors would have had to have done back in the Edo period.

The Imperial garden are awesome- perfectly manicured hedges, big lush lawns, amazing koi ponds and large flowerbeds which are probably out of this world in spring and summer.

The autumn leaves were brilliants; huge contrasts of green, yellow and bright reds are everywhere you look. Both Sue and I have been amazed at just how beautiful Japan's natural beauty is....maybe its because all we normally see in concrete, but even so, we cant wait to get out and see more remote parts of the country.I cant wait for Winter to really set in and see what that season brings!

The city vibe is also starting to really pick up, there are Christmas lights all across the city and all the shops are fully kitted out with their Christmas decorations. The cold weather adds to the "Christmas feeling" and hopefully we get some snow to make it really real for us.

we are really looking forward to this December, Gavin & Jill Stokes along Kirsten and Shiro are going to stay for a couple of days before heading down to Okinawa to spend Christmas at Kirsten and Shiro's house, then Greg & Marinda are coming over to spend Christmas and New years with us. We have stax of outings planned and are going to even try fit in a day or two for snowboarding in Nagano. I'll try and keep the blog posts coming and keep everyone posted during Christmas.

Please send us all your news as while its been great sharing our lives with everyone, we would really love to hear how everyone else is doing!

Cheers Till later

Chris

(Final addition, we lost most of the Photo's from Sarah's 4th birthday but did have a collage that Sue put together from the Princess party, I have scanned it in at the end of this post.)


Sarah at the Shinjuku Gyoen french rose garden

Shinjuku district in the background

Sarah asking the names of ALL the roses

Ronan & I enjoying the grass

Sarah loved this name, she thought it was very funny!

Entrance to Imperial palace Gardens

Imperial palace moat

Sarah & Ronan

Trees changing across the Imperial Palace

One of the Huge walls within the palace gardens

Historic military defence zone within the Palace grounds

Koi pond inside imperial Palace east garden

counting the Koi

After leaving the East side of the imperial palace we found this area -Full road closure every Sunday for Cyclists.........that's it, no more excuses, I'll be there next week!

Sue & Sarah

Sarah enjoying the space

Walking in the leaves

Pics from Sarah's Birthday