21 April 2010

I coordinated the TMG meeting at Nandemo, then Emily and I went on to have lunch with Nick. It was a pleasant day so we had a picnic in the nearby playground, already wary of the strengthening sun's rays. After parting from him, she and I continued up the Namboku line to somewhere I had never been before: Oji. Bettina had passed on info about a park and playground up there, and with Emily's new regime making full days away from home easier I decided to go and check it out. She attracted a lot of attention, and we were the only gaijin I saw the whole time we were there, though we were only a few miles from central Tokyo.

Asukayama Park was up on a ridge above the rail tracks, and a pleasant example of an urban Japanese park, with no grass but lots of trees. There were three things that set it apart for me and made it a destination I will go to again and again: First, it is right next to both elevated shinkansen tracks and regular JR rails plus there is a tram running from there, so there is plenty of trainspotting potential. Second, there was a dinky little monorail that took us all of 50m up from the station to the top of the hill; it must qualify as the world's shortest, surely, and hate to think about the cost of installing it. They don't even make a charge for using it to offset their outlay a bit. It did make the park more accessible though, as otherwise there were steps to navigate, and even if there weren't we'd have ridden it as Emily loved it.

Lastly, and the most important reason, was the playground, which was extensive and the best equipped I have seen here yet. The main features were a high elephant slide

a rotating cage, a large castle-like structure with many ways to ascend and descend

and even a real, retired steam train and carriage to look around.


Eventually Emily showed distinct signs of weariness and we made our way home. After so much excitement I was amazed that she got through to bedtime without dropping off, and even ate her tea, though later there were tears before bed.