Early Autumn at Showa Kinen Park

The kids were out for fall break this past week.  Since their school holiday schedule does not follow the Japanese school holidays, we headed out to Showa Kinen Park (国営昭和記念公園 and in wikipedia) in the west Tokyo suburbs about an hour west of central Tokyo.  It used to be part of the nearby Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) at Tachikawa Air Base and was established in 1983 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Showa's reign. It's a very large park for Tokyo at 163.0 hectare.

This park is full of interesting natural wonders and features a variety of large flower beds.  This month, cosmos are featured.

Here are some more cosmos taken in camera with an impressionistic style in mind. The post processing was limited to adjust levels, balancing colors and contrast. The blur is from fill flash freezing the image and my hand swinging the camera towards the flowers.

Some of the more interesting play structures include bouncing domes or sea of clouds (雲の海）, rainbow hammocks, and a playground full of sea monsters.