Hibiya Park in Chiyoda City, Tokyo is Japan’s first public Western-style park. The vast, 16-hectare Hibiya Park has a rich history. It was feudal grounds during the Edo period (1603–1867) and then a military parade square in much of the Meiji era (1868–1912) before it was converted into Japan’s earliest Western-inspired modern park in 1903.
Today, there are thousands of tall trees, including a gingko that is estimated to be about 500 years old. Hibiya Park is dotted with charming mementos from around the globe: a piece of stone money from Yap Island, a block of gneiss from Antarctica, a Viking stone epitaph, and a statue of Remus and Romulus donated by Italy in the 1930’s & Liberty Bell, donated by the United States in 1952.
