Tokyo's Mukōjima Hyakkaen Garden

NEAR THE HEART of old Tokyo, surrounded by the largest metro area in the world, the Mukōjima-Hyakkaen Garden provides a respite from the bustle of the city with a traditional and lush corner of peace and quiet. For more than two centuries, the garden has been a haven for the city’s writers and artists as well as anyone who desires a temporary escape from urban life into the subtle tranquility of nature.

- Tyler McElroy

Mukōjima-Hyakkaen was first established in the early years of the nineteenth century by a wealthy antiques dealer who, with the help of several prominent artists of the period, built a garden where writers could surround themselves with blooming flowers and trees at any time of the year. Despite severe damage from aerial raids during World War II, Mukōjima-Hyakkaen remains the only surviving Edo-period flower garden in Japan.