The beautiful nature shots in the beginning of Episode 203 were from Tokyo Bay Hamarikyu Onshi Teien – a giant tea garden – that we stumbled across while wandering around early in the morning near Tsukiji Fish Market.  We were some of the first people in the park, so we were able to wander around alone in the morning quiet.  It was perhaps one of the most peaceful places I’ve been to in Tokyo.  Shibuya is constantly buzzing and bustling, and our own neighborhood in Miyamae-ku is about as eventful as a crater on the moon (but without the “hey we’re on the moon!” feeling).  So our lives oscillate between the hyper-active and the inactive, but at the park, it was a comfortable medium.

Massive monolithic buildings towered on all sides, making the park seem almost like a little valley from 400 years ago.

Jed and Conrad

About 50 stories by 40 rooms of concrete and glass overlooking a ceremonial tea house…it felt like ancient Japan nestled within modern Japan.

We discovered that long ago, the area used to be a falcon range for the shoguns, but it also came to serve as a tidal pond, a tea garden and a wild duck hunting site.  After WWII, it was made a public park and protected under Japanese law.  Many eras in Japan have passed through this garden, and perhaps it was the layers of history that made it feel so peaceful.  In Tokyo, a subway ride can be literally overflowing with people but also feel silent and almost sterile (at least to a mind accustomed to constant conversation); central squares can feel claustrophobic with so people but also incredibly lonely because no one will ever look you in the eyes; bedroom neighborhoods, like ours, can be full of residences but empty of social interactions.  The park felt like a unique space for us – serene but still stimulating.  The park was mostly empty, but it didn’t feel like we were being separated from other people as much pushed together with our own thoughts and reflections.

Skyscrapers on the lake

Our current diet of experience isn’t incredibly nourishing for our bodies or our minds, but this separate peace in the park helped rejuvenate my passion for traveling.