To say it was raining the the day I chose to visit the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is an understatement. I lived in Vancouver for 20 years: this wasn’t rain, it was a torrential downpour. It didn’t help that I didn’t pack an umbrella.

There are a large number of gardens such as this in Tokyo and if I were going to offer advice I’d say that a garden has a modest admission charge while parks didn’t. Not a universal truth, but a guide.

So, in the pouring rain I tried to use a vintage furushiki cloth given to me by a friend a while ago to keep my camera somewhat protected and wandered around this incredibly beautiful place.

I landed in Tokyo in mid-April which was a little early for cherry blossoms, but a couple of wam days (clearly not this one) has prompted the start of early blooms. They were, of course, lovely, and the trees in Shinjuku Gyoen didn’t disappoint. The park has a meandering circle trail that lazily follows its perimeter and will take somewhere around an hour to walk at a leisurely pace–more with camera.

I sought refuged from the rain in the park’s tea house for lunch. Perhaps somewhat oddly, this was one of the only places I had sushi while I was there. I’m not sure why, but there was much ramen and udon consumed (no to mention by aforementioned visits close to my hotel.) Hand rolled and beautiful, it was a lovely pause from getting soaked.

Shinjuku Gyoen is, as the name implies, adjacent to the Shinjuku shopping district which was my next stop. While Shinjuku’s streets and restraurants (and ubiquitous Ikea location) was fun, the garden was definitely the highlight of the day.