Cherry Blossoms at Yoyogi Park

Having seen the cherry blossoms in Okinawa, I couldn’t understand the hype over hanami or cherry blossom viewing. I found the dark pink flowers overrated. To think that people would actually look forward to these flowers blooming annually, I couldn’t help but to find it a tad bit strange and a tad bit ridiculous. They were just flowers that were nice to look at but nothing of the extraordinary.

I harbored these thoughts on cherry blossoms until I finally ran into several cherry blossom trees that happened to be in bloom at Yoyogi Park. The blossoms were a soft pink. I was attracted to these cherry blossoms and was able to see why the average person would look forward to hanami. Just imagine the wondrous sight of being surrounded by pastel pink flowers when every single sakura tree is in full bloom!

Sakura trees aside, Yoyogi Park is worth visiting. The park is big, filled with nature and is in a busy part of Tokyo. In fact, it’s quite close to the overly hyped Takeshita Street of Harajuku. Fortunately, once you set foot in Yoyogi Park, you can almost forget that you’re in a big city. Yoyogi Park enables you to be away from it all and that’s what I liked about this park.

For anyone that lives life in the fast lane, Yoyogi Park is the place to go if you ever need to unwind and get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

With the park being huge, it’s quite limitless what you can do there. You can go for a leisurely stroll, bike, jog, watch dogs at the dog park area, bird watch, eat from food trucks and capture the beauty of nature via photography.

Creepers and Peepers

Talking about photography, I actually caught sight of a male photographer that did a ridiculously good job of hiding himself in a tree while taking photos and/or video recording park visitors. I was not happy to catch sight of this guy because I found him rude. I also found him to be a creep for hiding like that. As Japan is a country that isn’t so fond of non-consentual photography, I am clueless as to what the deal was with this guy. I am certain that this guy got away with taking many people’s photos (mine’s included, perhaps). As I doubt many people, if any at all noticed him, I hope he will get caught and called out on soon should he frequent Yoyogi Park.

Creepy photographer aside, it seems that Yoyogi Park has a peeping tom problem.

The ladies restroom, by the front entrance has a sign warning peepers against peeping as the area is supposedly being surveillanced or something.

The “funny” thing about this sign is that I didn’t notice it until I visited the park at night, when I really needed do a number one.

Yoyogi Park at Night

Yoyogi Park at night is interesting. It’s quiet and quite an experience.

If you’ve never camped or hiked at night, I suggest you to visit Yoyogi Park at night. I say this because at night, Yoyogi Park looks different. So different that if you accidentally somehow get sidetracked by something, you might get “lost” amongst the many trees. While I’m not saying this will happen to you, I’m saying it could happen to you because it happened to me!

Initially, I welcomed the experience but after a few rounds of not being able to find the main entrance, I wanted to flip.

Things got to the point where I told myself to just get out at any random exit and figure things out from there.

So, I come upon an exit only to ignore it as I really wanted to just exit from the main entrance gate. Then, I enter a more woodsy area, which I do not know why I chose to do so, only to encounter blue tents with flashing lights inside. From afar, I thought this was some protected garden or greenhouse of some sort because the tent wasn’t exactly visible from afar. It was only when I got there that I realized that I was going through a hidden homeless encampment. I was like wtf! A part of me was glad that homeless people had successfully made this hidden part of Yoyogi Park home yet another part of me was like this is so not the time to think like this. I told myself I needed to get the F out asap and that’s what I did. Honestly, I felt bad to pass by their “homes” but it was something that couldn’t be helped at that moment. I also felt bad for kind of being disruptive since I was quickening my pace and in the process, was probably being loud af against the gravel.

But another part of me was just on super high alert and somewhat spooked out by it all.

Just when I thought I had left the homeless encampment area, a man just had to show up. While I am not sure if he’s someone from the tents, he did seem to have come from the homeless encampment area.

I had a major wtf moment when he appeared in front of me.

Fortunately, I had a neutral poker face on when he looked at me. I did not greet him or anything and he just went about his way, collecting cans and bottles from the park’s trash bins.

I was relieved.

But the real relief came about when I finally could see the main entrance. I was so happy and even happier to hear an American girl speaking English obnoxiously loud.

It felt like I was home for a moment.

Remember the glorious restroom I so wanted to use? Well, I ended up not using it after learning of the peeping tom problem. I just decided it’d be best to use a restroom elsewhere.

What an experience, Yoyogi Park.