Hanazono Center Park

What an amazing place! Its located almost right next to my wife’s family in Higashiosaka and over the last 12 years its been such a pleasure to watch this entire complex develop. It encompasses the rugby stadium (extremely famous) but has become such a great mixed usage area. The playground, if you have kids it’s like the coolest one I have ever seen. It has this great space exploration theme going on and it’s enormous! But there’s also the dog park. I love dogs, haven’t had one in a long time but it was so fun the other day just to watch the dogs and their owners having fun. Then there’s the baseball field and this incredible open space where adults and kids can play soccer (football), rugby, frisbee (my fave) and any number of other activities. But topping it all off is it’s right next to an area where the Sakura bloom like unbelievable! Even after spending the peak of the season in Kyoto it was still very impressive. And this was after the trees had lost so many blossoms from the rain. The day I left Japan there were still so many people enjoying their barbecues and having parties. My family said the trees were so beautiful at their peak.
A little local knowledge: Hanazono Stadium is «Rugby Central» in Japan. Higashiosaka is the fist city to build a stadium especially for rugby (in 1929). In fact it is known as «Rugby City». I have never been inside the stadium but if the practice field is any indication… There is a train stop on the Kintetsu line for your convenience. Please look at the pictures I am posting (from a trip back in 2009) that show the stadium, Stonehenge (Osaka style), the practice field (it is amazing even in the dead of winter) and the rose garden. The stadium will be one of the Rugby World Cup locations in 2019.