A lovely afternoon at Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens

Not too long ago, I was pleased to have spent a sunny afternoon with my wonderful friend Yoshi, whom I met last year in Sydney. It was great catching up on our lives then in the International House, and it made me realize that time has passed and we have to keep walking on, embracing the new chapters in our lives. Yet, what is enduring would be the true friendships that I am very privileged to keep through changing times.

The Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens belong to the Mito Tokugawa family and was formally inaugurated as a garden in 1938. The garden features a central pond with small paths that lead to calm and peaceful gardens.

It is hard not to fall in love with such serenity.

Afterwhich, we had the opportunity to visit the Yasukuni Shrine in the late afternoon. The Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated to the soldiers of the Japanese WWII. From Yoshi, I learnt more about the Japanese politics and the reasons why this shrine is considered to be politically sensitive and controversial. It is interesting to observe how visits to the Shrine by Prime Ministers or other Ministers might be perceived differently by countries like Korea and China.

It is hard to explain everything here, but ask me someday again and I would be happy to share with you what I know.

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