Weather of 21’C in late November is almost unheard of in Tokyo, so when the temperature rose yesterday and the sky turned a brilliant blue, it seemed like all of Tokyo went outside to play (including me!).

My first stop was the weekend Antique Market outside Yasukuni Shrine. If you dig weird old stuff, this is the place to go. The tree lined street that leads up to the shrine hosts this market on Saturdays and Sundays, and with the good weather it was quite busy. There were all kinds of things on sale — some true antiques, like World War Two helmets and jackets, and old Imperial Army money — but generally it reminded me more of a second hand market. Nonetheless they had some interesting stuff, like….

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After the market, I headed over to Yoyogi Park, and was amazed by what I found. For a second I almost swore I was somewhere in Europe. All over the park were performers playing violins, doing stand up comedy, jamming with accordions, making balloon animals, throwing frisbees, and all kinds of other weird stuff, such as……

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But above all were just people relaxing, families chilling out and having picnics, lovers kissing, couples napping, friends ambling along with a cold beer in hand, kids playing and bike riding, and generally just enjoying the beautiful weather and the beautiful scenery. I’ve never seen a place like Yoyogi Park before, with so many different people all doing their thing and nobody interfering in their business. It was an incredibly happy vibe, like the whole of the park was just smiling. What a wonderful feeling in a place where typically people work themselves to death, run through the train station like maniacs, and spend too much time in the office and not enough time outside enjoying life. Thank goodness for places like Yoyogi in a city like Tokyo!

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