Yoyogi Park
Yoyogi Park (代々木公園, Yoyogi kōen) is one of the largest parks in Tokyo, located adjacent to Harajuku Station and Meiji Shrine in Shibuya.
What is now Yoyogi Park was the site of the first successful powered aircraft flight in Japan, on December 19 1910, by Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa, following which it became an army parade ground. During the postwar occupation, it was the site of the Washington Heights residence for U.S. officers. It later was selected as the site for the 1964 Summer Olympics, and the distinctive Olympic buildings designed by Kenzo Tange are still nearby. In 1967, it was made into a city park.
Today, the park is a popular hangout, especially on Sundays, when it is used as a gathering place for people to play music, practice martial arts, etc. The park has a bike path, and bicycle rentals are available. As a consequence of Japan's long recession, there are several large, but surprisingly quiet and orderly, homeless camps around the park's periphery. These are somewhat like the Hoovervilles during the Great Depression in the USA.
Yoyogi park and dogs
Yoyogi park has a reasonably large fenced dog run, one of the (very) few areas in Tokyo where dogs are allowed to be off leash. The dog run is located towards the western side of the park, inside the bicycle path, east of the parking lot at the western edge of the park. The dog run's ground is covered in wood chips, and the run is divided into two sections and contains a few benches. Although it's possible to play "fetch" in the dog run on weekdays, when it's crowded on the weekends you may be told that balls are forbidden.
Weekday mornings there are always a number of people just south of the dog run with dogs running off leash, although this is technically against the rules. If you release your dog in this area, keep an eye out for park wardens, who ride bicycles. Although they do not seem to issue tickets they will lecture you about the need to keep your dog on leash. As with all parks in Tokyo, you are requested not to put dog waste in the park's garbage bins, but rather to take it home with you.
Recently, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara announced plans to build a 100,000-capacity stadium in Yoyogi Park in order to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
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