Garden at the Grand Prince Takanawa Hotel

The Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa was our arrival hotel in Tokyo. Everyone was arriving at different times, some two days before, others one day before the official start of the tour. I was two days early so I spent two nights here before everyone left for Kyoto. Not much fanfare was given about the hotel garden in our itinerary, except to note that "there is a garden adjacent to the hotel". And what a lovely garden it was!

Very well-tended (it was rare to see a garden there that was not), it was larger than expected.

It was quite spectacular at night when it was lit up - a great introductory garden for our tour.

There was a massive arrangement in the hotel lobby. On the second day, an employee was trimming back some of the limbs.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy