Setagaya Park

Setagaya Park

My wife and I were home with three-year-old daughter Cornucopia for three days in a row, Saturday 22, Sunday 23 and Monday 24 September. I stayed home an additional day with Corny, Tuesday 25, so she could completely recover from her impetigo before going to daycare, where she would have contact with other kids.

On the Sunday, we went to Setagya Park, in metropolitan Tokyo. You can get there by going to Shibuya then taking the train one stop to Ikejiriohashi. If you know where you're going, it takes about 15 minutes on foot. If, however, the person who elects to lead you takes the wrong exit and heads off in entirely the wrong direction, then it can take somewhat longer.

That day, we saw a dog hotel, a dog restaurant and a dog cafe. Setagaya is obviously nuts about dogs.

We went to this park because daughter Corny chose it from a range of options, the unique selling point being that it has a working steam locomotive. We all took a ride. Kids under six are free, but for us adults the fare was 70 yen per circuit. It's a small steam locomotive but strong enough to pull a bunch of small passenger cars holding a bunch of kids and adults.

One of the good points about the Tokyo-Yokohama area is that it's fairly generously provided with public parks, to which admission is always free, and the photo of the public fountain in Setagaya Park gives an inkling of the scale of this park. (Image on its side, I now realise. Sorry.)

On the Monday we went to the Jidokaikan, Tokyo city's free entertainment facility for people 18 and younger, and attended a free drum concert (Japanese taiko drums) in the adjoining orchestra hall.

The 90-minute program exceeded Corny's attention span, so we called it quits early and went to the Jidokaikan itself to see a free magic show.

All in all, then, Corny's sickness was handled reasonably well.

Setagaya

In Setagaya,
In metropolitan Tokyo, Japan,
We find a dog hotel,
Sumptuous,
A dog cafe
And a dog restaurant -
Fresh bones for Fido going walkies!
The eminent scholar who fled Darfur
Has been four years in the dusty deserts of Chad
Living in a hut of twigs.
His options, as you may imagine,
Are less opulent.