Escape Tokyo’s bloom boom madness at this natty cultural enclave, set within a lovely secret garden.
With Japan’s famed sakura season now in full flower, it’s nigh on impossible to find a green space in Tokyo that isn’t chock full of selfie-stick wielding sightseers ogling the tree tops. If you’d rather dodge the hanami hordes and take verdant respite, however, happily there’s the Nezu Museum, a cultural nest smack bang in manic Minato-ku that also happens to boast one of the city’s most stunning secret gardens. Ahh…
By all means go and pop your cherry blossom at the Aoyama Cemetery, awash this time of year with pretty petals, but when crowd-fatigue sets in, skip along towards Omotesando with a gimlet eye fixed for the bamboo-lined entrance.
The museum itself is a Kengo Kuma-designed sleekster housing a manageable melange of beautiful Asian artifacts, ranging from ancient Chinese bronzes to delicate Shinto paintings, a twee collection of trad teaware and monthly-changing feature exhibitions. But it’s the idyllic, waterway-strewn wooded garden that really wows. Take a gander around the many narrow maple-shaded paths leading across small bridges to hidden shrines, moss covered sculptures and bubbling water features. This is a strictly cherry tree-free zone (which means it’s comparably quiet in spring) but flora fans can spot mauve and white wisterias and floating Kakitsubata irises in April.
Want some brews to pair with your blooms? Smart sorts call ahead to book an exclusive cha ceremony in one of the garden’s rustic teahouses, or keep it casj with light lunch fare and dainty cakes in the Nezucafé. Note but two minutes from here is the totally cha-rming Aoyama Flower Market Teahouse.
Nezu Museum, 6-5-1 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, +81 3 3400 2536, nezu-muse.or.jp
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