© 2004, Malcolm Groves

I spent a very lazy and indulgent afternoon at Hama-rikyu today. Hama-rikyu was the family garden of the Tokugawa Shogun, and sprawls over many acres beside Tokyo Harbour. I’ve meant to visit these gardens on my last few trips, but this is the first time for awhile that I’ve had the weekend free in Tokyo.

Unfortunately, it rained constantly (Typhoon Chaba is on its way to Japan now that it has finished with Taiwan), so it wasn’t the best weather for photography, but it did mean I had the place pretty much to myself. I only saw two people in 4 hours, which is a rare occurence in Tokyo. One was the Head Caretaker of the gardens, who charmingly came out to thank me for visiting in spite of the rain, and the other was the lady who served me at the tea house.

Despite the rain, a very relaxing afternoon. I’ll post more pictures, but many of them didn’t turn out very well due to the light.

© 2004, Malcolm Groves