Shinjuku Central Park Audio Guide

Shinjuku Central Park: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Shinjuku Central Park

   Welcome to Shinjuku Central Park, known in Japanese as Shinjuku Chuo Koen, a green pocket in western Shinjuku. A quick word before we start: the park's own design details are thinly recorded, so I will tell you the story of the ground it sits on and the district around it, and I will say clearly when I am talking about the neighborhood rather than the park itself. What you can see for yourself is the setting. The park lies directly in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, ringed by some of the tallest towers in Tokyo, including the Hyatt Regency Tokyo and the Park Hyatt. Streets frame it on every side: Honnan Dori and Kita Dori to the north, Junisha Dori to the west, Suido Dori to the south, and Koen Dori to the east. One thing to settle early: this is not Shinjuku Gyoen, the large garden on the south-eastern side of Shinjuku Station. This is the smaller, everyday park of the skyscraper district. Let's find out why it exists here.

2. 02

   The Ground Beneath Your Feet: A Water Palace

   Today's skyline gives no hint of it, but this part of Shinjuku was once a huge pond and a water treatment complex. In 1898, the Yodobashi Water Purification Plant opened in the area that is now between the park and Shinjuku Station. It was the city's first modern water treatment facility, a piece of engineering that helped supply Tokyo with clean water. The plant did not last. The ponds were covered over in the late 1960s, after the Tokyo Olympics, as the Shinjuku district was rebuilt. Low settling basins gave way to towers of glass and steel, and the open ground that remained became the park you are standing in. There is one surviving trace. A hexagonal pavilion called Fujimidai stands in the park, and it is said to be the last original structure from 1898. If you find it, you are looking at the plant's last remaining piece of architecture, a small survivor in a landscape that otherwise reinvented itself completely.

3. 03

   Neighbors of Glass and Steel

   Look up and you will understand why this park is such a pleasant surprise. Nishi-Shinjuku, the area west of the station, was historically known as Yodobashi, and today it holds Tokyo's largest concentration of skyscrapers. Several of the city's tallest buildings stand here, among them the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the KDDI Building and Park Tower. The Metropolitan Government Building is the park's great neighbor. In 1991, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved here from the Marunouchi district of Chiyoda. The governor's office, the metropolitan assembly chamber and all the administrative head offices sit inside it. So the park lies at the front door of the government that runs the capital. The Park Hyatt, one of the hotels above the trees, appears in the film Lost in Translation. Many visitors come to the area for those views alone, and the park gives you a quiet spot at the foot of them.

4. 04

   Lunch Breaks, Shade and an Old Shrine

   For all its monumental surroundings, the park works on a human scale. It is easy for the many office workers in the area to reach, and it makes an ideal place to spend a lunch hour. Shaded paths run around the grounds, and a flower garden and a restaurant add to a relaxed half day in the middle of the business district. On the edge of the park stands Juniso Kumano Shrine, a historic shrine said to have guarded Shinjuku for about 600 years. That is a long span of time to set beside the 1898 water plant and the towers of the twentieth century, and it reminds you that people were tending to this neighborhood long before the skyscrapers arrived.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you wander on, take one more slow look around. You are standing where a modern water system was once born, in a district that has been rebuilt more than once, and yet there is still room here for shade, shrine and sandwich. See if you can find the hexagonal Fujimidai pavilion, and notice how low and quiet it feels against the towers. Then think about how many times this ground has changed its job, from pond to plant to park. And if you are curious about the wider story, Shinjuku has plenty more to give: the bustle around the world's busiest station, the very different calm of Shinjuku Gyoen, and the layers of postwar culture that made this one of Tokyo's liveliest districts. Which one will you follow next?