Page 71 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 75
P. 71
Above: There must have been hundreds of Japanese pines in Above and Right:
The impressive 300-year-old the garden, but the one that beat them all was the Walking through Ginza, the
Sambyakunen-no-matsu pine entire Chuo-Dori Street had
tree is a bush style with large Sambyakunen-no-matsu (old pine) which was said to been closed to vehicles, so
low spreading trunks. be about 300 years old! It was in a bush style with its people could walk along it.
large trunks spreading out low. Like all the gardens in
Japan, it was extremely well maintained, and it was
interesting to watch the gardeners as they prepared
some of the delicate black pine trees for winter.
So, after taking hundreds of photos, it was time to Ginza is the most famous upmarket shopping, dining
move on and head back for our cases. But first we and entertainment district in Tokyo, with one square
would have to walk back through Ginza, this time we metre in the centre of the district said to be worth over
noticed something was different? The whole main 10 million yen, that’s about £55,000! Which makes the
Chuo-Dori Street had been closed to vehicles, so land some of the most expensive in Japan! Interestingly,
people could walk along it, and restaurants could place the site where the Ginza District is today was once a
tables on it. It certainly totally changed the feel of the silver coin mint from 1612 to 1800, hence the name
area. It was certainly strange to see people just walking Ginza meaning silver mint, which the district was
around in the middle of the road – taking pictures – so I eventually named. After the Great Kanto earthquake
bet you can guess what we did! Ginza developed into an upmarket shopping district.
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