The Tenbou-Park Sakura Festival in Ikebukuro’s popular Sunshine City shopping complex promises a sneeze and itchy eyes-free flower-viewing experience.
Sakura is currently on the minds of many people in Japan as they get ready to welcome the beloved cherry blossoms sometime in the coming weeks. One of the most time-honored ways to celebrate the ephemeral beauty of the sakura is to take part in o-hanami, flower viewing parties, by picnicking under a profusion of pink petals with family and friends for hours on end.
▼ At some popular municipal parks, it’s almost impossible to find an open patch of ground during o-hanami season.
However, the desire to spend lots of time outside admiring the blossoms can often be a complicated one for people with seasonal allergies. Thankfully, one indoor park in Tokyo is now offering a creative solution for those who want to experience the beauty of the blossoms while avoiding contact with pollen.
The Sunshine 60 Observatory Tenbou-Park is currently hosting its Tenbou-Park Sakura Festival from March 1 through May 12. As part of the Sunshine City commercial complex in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district, this indoor park is located 251 meters (274.5 yards) above sea level on the 60th floor of the Sunshine 60 building. While the park’s design always features small knolls covered in artificial grass, during the Sakura Festival it will also be decked out in all manner of cherry blossom decorations.
▼ Beautiful by day, beautiful when illuminated at night–and most beautiful when you don’t have to worry about allergies!
One of the highlights of Tenbou-Park during the Sakura Festival is the round swing by the window that’s appropriately decked out with blossoms. Prepare to be dazzled on this pink throne while gazing down at the Tokyo metropolis below.
On select days during the festival (largely on weekends and throughout the spring vacation period), the park will also hold special event offerings for families with young children such as the following:
● Crafting workshops for parents and kids
● Fair games such as ring toss and kiddie-pool fishing
● Concerts suitable for especially young children
● A photo contest for photos taken at the park
Please note that some of these events may require an extra fee to participate.
In addition, when your stomach wants to enjoy the sakura just as much as your eyes do, the on-site Tenbou-Park Cafe is also offering up a limited-time, sakura-themed menu for parkgoers. These menu items include sakura strawberry milk (550 yen/US$3.72), sakura cocktails, both of the alcoholic (780 yen) and the non-alcoholic (680 yen) varieties, sakura Mont Blanc featuring a matcha sponge cake (850 yen), and Japanese-style crepes featuring sakuramochi and sakura-infused whipped cream (600 yen).
Visitors with especially empty stomachs will no doubt want to spring for the o-hanami bento box (850 yen), which includes onigiri in the shape of sakura petals, karaage, rolled omelets, and Vienna sausages, among more.
Finally, from March 20 through April 4, residents of Tokyo’s Toshima Ward (where Sunshine City is located) will receive a 20 percent discount on admission to the park as well as cutlery novelty items while supplies last as a special gesture for the local community.
Admission prices and opening hours to the Sunshine 60 Observatory Tenbou-Park vary depending on the date, so please check the official website before your visit. In general, tickets purchased in advance are also less expensive than tickets purchased upon arrival.
As a final fun fact, there’s an added level of meaning to sakura-themed events held in this particular area of Tokyo. Japan’s most popular cultivar of cherry tree, the Somei Yoshino variety, was originally cultivated in Somei Village towards the end of the Edo period (1603-1868)–which was located in present-day Toshima Ward. That makes viewing (and eating) the sakura from the comfort of an indoor park in Ikebukuro all the sweeter.
Event information
Tenbou-Park Sakura Festival / てんぼうパーク さくらまつり
Address: Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Higashi-Ikebukuro 3-1 Sunshine City Sunshine 60 Building, 60th floor
東京都豊島区東池袋 3-1 サンシャインシティ サンシャイン60ビル・60F
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Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times
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