Sankei-en – Traditional Japanese Garden in Yokohama

Unfortunately all the cities around Tokyo that I haven’t visited are all two hour trips with regional trains. So that either means getting up early or go somewhere else. And there are many temples and gardens which I haven’t visited yet. One of them is Sankei-en (三溪園) in Yokohama.

Sankei-en is one of Yokohamas main attractions yet it is a bit off the other sights (Minato Mirai, China Town). Plus you have to take the bus to reach Sankeien. Once reached, the way is clearly signed out. If I didn’t have trouble finding the place, you won’t either.

Anyway, it’s quite a big garden with a wide variety of flowers meaning that there is something special to see every month. They have a flower timetable and an event guide. I don’t know if both are available in English since I took the Japanese ones.

Near the entrance is a big pond with a pagoda in the distance. The map really helps since there are a lot of buildings from Japan’s past. A special secluded park also includes a kind of museum with a shop. It was in that area where I found a sign pointing out that the tree was planted in remembrance of the visit of Hamburg’s Sakura princess in 1980. While Osaka is Hamburg’s sister city, Yokohama is the sister city (harbour) of the harbour of Hamburg. And there is a cherry blossoms festival in Hamburg albeit relatively small.

In the park on the way to the pagoda is a modern building offering a view of the industrial part of Yokohama. It’s really not that exciting which also includes the rather small pagoda.