Posted on 2014/11/17

Part 1: The Vienna of Japan, city of music, Hamamatsu. Unlike other garden parks I’ve seen in Tokyo or Yokohama area, Hamamatsu Garden Park (浜松ガーデンパーク) takes you on a journey through the different gardening styles of various countries (Nepal, China, Korea, Thailand and UK). It also includes a flower museum where you can learn about the foreign botanists who ventured into Japan during the Edo period. Short stories of how Japanese flowers and gardens sparked those foreign botanists’ interests, causing them to export the plants and cultivate them in other countries, especially in the UK. In the photo below is a statuette of Robert Fortune who visited Japan in the… Read More

Posted on 2014/11/14

Part 2: Hamamatsu Garden Park – the breathtaking lake view tower. Do you know there’s a City of Music in Japan? Since 1979, Hamamatsu city has been providing the local people opportunities to appreciate art, culture and music. In this city, you can enjoy the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition which is held in November triennially or visit the Museum of Musical Instruments where you can see many peculiar ancient instruments. Here is some information about this City of Music provided by Hamamatsu City Hall The easiest way to get to Hamamatsu is by bullet trains (Shinkansen). It costs around 8,000 yen from Tokyo station to Hamamatsu station. A Kodama train… Read More