Inokashira koen (2004-03-12)
Last weekend KL and I went to Inokashira koen(park). The
park is nestled in busy Kichijoji (
) which is about fifteen minutes from
Shinjuku (
) on the Chuo express line. We arrived there just before
noon and decided to have
tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet) lunch at one of the restaurants underneath
Kichijoji station. After the melt-in-your-mouth
tender pork lunch, we began the short stroll to the park.
The park is quite big featuring a lake (man-made?) in the center
which is home to gigantic koi fish and ducks. People buy special
bags of feed from the kiosks to feed them.
Besides fish and wildlife you will see a small dock and a shop from
which some people run their boat-renting business. Rowboats and
swan-shaped paddleboats are for hire for those who think paddling and
bumping
into a horde of rowers in a small lake is fun. There are
also long walking
paths, a small zoo, an open stage, kiosks and snack bars
throughout the park. Huge cherry trees line the sides of the lake
making it one of the popular places for people to view cherry
blossoms. We'll probably reture next month when the beautiful
pinkish flowers are in full bloom.
On weekends the park comes alive with performers, vendors, dog
walking owners and anyone who just wants to enjoy a relaxing day
out. We saw many interesting people and actions including a
master teaching taichi to a young man,
a masseur giving a woman massage with his foot, several people learning
to play a tune using a LEAF, a girl crooning in front of a mike and a
band belting out their favorite songs. These future singing stars
seldom place a receptacle in front of them to collect money from
onlookers. They perform for fun or in the hope of being
discovered. You've got to admire their enthusiasm.
After a couple of hours in the park, we headed back to the busy
shopping side of Kichijoji. We did a little shopping and felt
tired, talking about getting old! On the way home we went to a
supermarket to pick up some fruits. After we paid for our
purchase, a table full of ekiben (boxed lunches from different
stations.) ( How do they squeeze all that meaning into one little
word?) caught our eye. I'm ultimately weak when it comes to cute
and colorful packaged food, which is a problem for me because it is
EVERYWHERE.
Those boxed lunches were colorful and looked good, all screaming "Buy
me!". So I convinced KL to
have them for dinner. They turned out alright though not
exceptional. I won't be eating boxed lunches again anytime
soon, unless...some clever Japanese food people come up with even more
colorfully packaged ekiben I guess.
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