SHINJUKU GYOEN, JAPAN

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of Tokyo's largest and most popular parks. Located just a short walk from Shinjuku Station, the paid park's spacious lawns, meandering walking paths and tranquil scenery provide a relaxing escape from the busy urban center around it.

In spring Shinjuku Gyoen becomes one of the best places in the city to see cherry blossom.  It was originally a residence of the Naito family (daimyo) in the Edo Period. Afterwards, it became a garden under the management of the Imperial Household Agency of Japan. It is now a park under the jurisdiction of the national Ministry of the Environment.

The imperial gardens, which were once meant for the royalty, were completed in 1906 and destroyed in 1945, during the later stages of World War II. The jurisdiction over the Imperial Palace Outer Garden and the Kyoto imperial garden was transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (now part of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) with Shinjuku Imperial Gardens in 1947.
On May 21, 1949 the gardens became open to the public as "National Park Shinjuku Imperial Gardens". It came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Environment in January 2001 with the official name "Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden"

The gardens, which are 58.3 hectares in area with a circumference of 3.5km, blend three distinct styles, French Formal, English Landscape and Japanese traditional. A traditional Japanese tea house can be found within the gardens.

The gardens are a favourite hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) spot, and large crowds can be found in the park during cherry blossom season.The gardens have more than 20,000 trees, including approximately 1,500 cherry trees which bloom from late March (Shidare or Weeping Cherry), to early April (Somei or Tokyo Cherry), and on to late April (Kanzan Cherry). 

 Other trees found here include the majestic Himalayan cedars, which soar above the rest of the trees in the park, tulip trees, cypresses, and plane trees, which were first planted in Japan in the Imperial Gardens.
Horticulture work has been going on in the greenhouses in the gardens since 1892. The present greenhouse, built in the 1950s has a stock of over 1,700 tropical and subtropical plant species on permanent display.

Shinjuku Gyoen is also nice to visit during autumn when the leaves change. There are a lot of different types of trees that change colors around the park, however the maple trees are particularly beautiful and can be seen in large numbers around the Japanese garden and Momijiyama (maple mountain) on the park's eastern side. The colors typically appear from mid November to mid December. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_Gyoen

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