#51 Nanakita Park: A Neighborhood Park With Romance and Whimsy

2014.12.09 遊 - Amusement and Recreation

#51 Nanakita Park:   A Neighborhood Park With Romance and Whimsy

Nanakita Park has to be one of Sendai’s best-kept secrets: I’d been living within walking distance of it for nearly two years before Ifinally visited. But when I did visit, I was shocked.

What I had formerly known onlyas our community meeting place in case of a big earthquake was, in fact, a grand, romantic park. The kind of place where swans sail past fountains in serene ponds. Where pine trees guard streams criss-crossed with stepping stones. Where a maze meanders through brilliant flower beds.

Not content with magnificence alone, the park also has a definite sense of whimsy. Take the checkerboard pavement, the stone ziggurat topped with a fountain, or the mushroom-shaped pavilion with its own personal moat.

It’s also a lively community space, where kids delight in sitting on benches next to statues of cats and saxophone players, yosakoi dancers rehearse on the lawn before the big festival, and the Sendai Astronomical Observatory brings a telescope for community stargazing on some Friday nights.

Once, at the park, I was trying to figure out how to get a drink from a fountain when a little girl about kindergarten age approached me. “Isn’t the water coming out?” she asked. “No,” I said. She matter-of-factly got to work. “Here, hold this,” she said, handing me her Pokemon cards. She tried with all her might to turn the knob, but with no avail. Finally she saw a practical solution. Turning on the faucet below the fountain presumably meant for washing or filling containers, she explained, “You can get a drink here.” Not wanting to ruin her moment, I obliged and thanked her. As I left she waved and shouted, “Bye-bye!” I couldn’t help but smile at this little goodwill ambassador.

You, too, can be part of the community’s leisure activities and admire the creative landscaping at Nanakita Park. It’s just afive-minute walk from Izumi-Chuo Station on the subway’s Nanboku Line. Take the West 1 exit and continue down the road to your left. Admission is free.

記事　モニカさん