It is at the end of October and it’s one of the best time of the year. Many people like spring time but autumn is as nice in my opinion. Cool at night and in the morning and sometimes it gets pretty warm in day time but it never gets humid as it usually is in summer.
So what do local people do in Tokyo in Autumn? Well, it’s basically the same as what we do spring. Go outside, hang out with friends, and BBQ. No hanami though.
Last week on Saturday was such a typical autumn day in Tokyo and let me tell you how it went.
The day started as early as 8 am and start heading to a local gym, Shibasaki gym right at the back of Tachikawa Garden Town. The gym is only 5 mins away by walk.
The purpose of going to the gym was to take a court for badminton which I planned to play with my colleague in the morning on the same day. The reservation starts at 8:50 am but by the time I got there at 8:50 am, I was too late. There were already 10-15 people ahead of me and they were all waiting for taking the badminton court. To reserve the time slot, you need to be at the gym reception counter even before then. Because this entire process is done in a first-come-first-served manner. It is better to be in front of the gym as early as possible. This was actually the first time I failed to take the court. I guess playing badminton especially on Saturdays is very popular in Tachikawa.
My colleague and I decided to go to Showa Kinen Park instead to play disc golf. This is something he was interested to try out because he has never played such a sport before. I used to play disc golf pretty often but it’s been years since I played last time. I thought it would be nice to play again.
For those who have no idea what disc golf is. This is it.
Basically, playing golf with frisbees is what disc golf is. There are 18 disc golf halls in Showa Kinen park and it is the biggest court. There are only two parks in Tokyo you can play disc golf by the way.
After the disc golf, we moved to an area called BBQ garden which is the only BBQ permitted area in this massive national park.
In my earlier post, I wrote about three types of places you can do BBQ in Tokyo.
This BBQ garden is one of the Public BBQ permitted area available to everyone. It is hard to book because it’s pretty popular. A group of friends in Oakhouse Kichijoji 2 somehow did and I joined them. I did nothing to prepare or make a reservation but they must’ve planned months ahead.
Many things and types of equipment can be rented on site. So what you need to bring is food only. The BBQ site actually does sell food to grill as well. It’s a bit pricy but this is a pretty convenient option. Charcoal can also be bought on site.
Prepping the BBQ was easy as all the gears and types of equipment were already there. The provided aluminum foils were also easy to grill everything people brought over.
The BBQ was served as the South African style. Everything was great. Every food I ate during this BBQ was something I have never tasted before. The smell of exotic spices and herbs was amazing.
I would totally recommend this BBQ garden if you actually can take the spot. Making a reservation is the hardest. Good luck!
