One exceptionally cold day, I launched myself up the hill from Oji Station, through the playground
in the Kyu Fukukama Gardens, past the Goethe Museum and right into the Paper Museum
(formerly the Japan Prince Papermaking Company). No map. Just luck.
Asukayama Park is famous as a place where Tokagawa Yoshimune, the 8th Shogun,
planted cherry blossom and maple trees to create one of the first public parks in Edo.
These days, I told, it’s a kind of a secret hanami-viewing site. Kita-ku is also where
Western-style paper making began in Japan.
The fountain creates a sculpted and very accessible brook that flows down the hill.