Only a short ride across the border from Chiba, built on reclaimed land which was
previously used as garbage lots, and officially opened in 1989, the
park runs along one edge of Tokyo Bay and is a great place to visit
if you want to sit and relax near water or you want to get lost in a
bit of nature. Within the park there is an aquarium (Tokyo Sea Life
Park), a bird sanctuary, and a large ferris wheel (the tallest in
Tokyo) which was opened in 2001, on which you can view Tokyo Bay,
Edogawa, Tokyo Disneyland, and Mount Fuji. So if you have kids, this
is a great spot to bring them and a place where you will be able to
get a decent afternoon's worth of entertainment.
I visited the park on Sunday which was,
weather wise, one of those stunning autumn days you get in Japan.
After coming out of Kasai Rinkai Koen station, you are greeted by a
small fountain, gently puffing its water skywards. And behind this,
set on the horizon, is the Diamond and Flower Ferris Wheel. As Tokyo
Disneyland is the next stop down, you imagine that this may be
conveniently arranged to help parents persuade their kids that they
can have a nice day out, even if it doesn't involve shelling out
¥10000 to see Mickey Mouse and friends.
The aquarium is conveniently close to
the station too, and walking across the square leading up to the
Tokyo Bay coastline you often see street performances, who are
commonly found at tourist attractions around Japan; sometimes you see
a 'one-man-and-his-monkey-on-a-string' show at touristy spots (a bit
of an uncomfortable watch, in my opinion), but this time there was a
guy juggling and skillfully performing balancing
tricks to the appreciatively enthusiastic crowd.
As you get near the bay area you come
across a modern looking building, which is intended to be a viewing
gallery/info spot. The Japanese usually do this quite well, and there
is nothing particularly wrong with this architecturally pleasing
building, but it is very sparse inside (information wise, TVs meant
for public information looked like they were under maintenance), and
someone had decided to flick the air-con switch to off. So, just a
quick walk through here and then on to the the main part of the park.
As you follow the path which runs
parallel to the bay, you soon come across the bird sanctuary, where
you will find watching the 'birders' eagerly photographing their
tweeting friends as interesting as the nature itself. Viewing is done from something that resembles an artificial cave, where you can look out of decently sized
slots. There are two of these viewing caves placed conveniently on
each side of the reserve. If you are patient enough, you can observe a variety of migrational species of birds. And by the quality of the photographic equipment you
can see being used, there is no doubting how serious the people take
bird and nature watching here.
One of the great features about this
area is the panoramic view across the bay. From the concrete building
housed within part of the sanctuary, one guy had even set up a
full-scale telescope, which lead me to think he was waiting for
sundown to attempt a proper view of the cosmos. There are ¥100-a-go
mini-telescopes at hand too that wouldn't be out of place on a coastline
promenade in Britain and they are perfect for watching the myriad of vehicles within the bay, including the planes coming into land at Haneda airport.
Sometimes you may get the feeling that
as you walk around 'natural' areas in Japan, it's all a bit
manufactured. And indeed here it sometimes feels like you are walking around a
Disneyland for adults. But there is no question that the work done
to preserve the Bay's natural habitat through renovation and conservation has
produced one of the best getaways you will find in the area.
Kasai-Rinkai Park: located is about a
half an hour from JR Tokyo Station on the Keiyo Line (京葉線). .Buses can be taken from Kasai Station and Nishi-Kasai Station to Kasai Rinkai Park on Tokyo Metro's Tousai Line.
http://goo.gl/maps/61PDX
