Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is in Tokyo. I was staying near the Shinjuku area, and I noticed on a map that the garden wasn’t terribly far away. It was within easy walking distance, so I decided to check it out.

The park is gorgeous and quiet.. It’s no exaggeration to say that a couple of hours of exploring, resting and simply contemplating life while strolling through the park left me feeling rejuvenated.

The word “oasis” gets overused when describing these types of places, but if it weren’t for the skyscrapers rising above the trees, it was easy to forget that I was still in the world’s largest metro area.