Myogadani

 

Myogadani Station lies on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line in the Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo. Although it is located just two stops from the busy city center of Ikebukuro, the station mainly serves the quiet residential district of Koishikawa .

 

The area surrounding the station is a small commercial area consisting of shops, supermarkets, snack bars and restaurants. Close by are two of Tokyo's universities – Ochanomizu University and University of Tsukuba. Koishikawa Botanical Garden is also close by. The residential district that Myogadani Station mainly serves, Koishikawa, is situated just north of the station. To the south is the quaint printing district with many small printing shops located in its narrow streets. Some streets are so narrow that they become inaccessible when trucks enter to deliver paper and printing material.

 

Koishikawa Botanical Gardens

 

Koishikawa Botanical Garden is affiliated with the University of Tokyo. This 16 hectare Garden serves Tokyo University's Graduate School of Science as a research center for its botanical science programs.

 

Koishikawa Botanical Garden was originally established by the 5 th Tokugawa Shogun, Tsuneyoshi Tokugawa, in 1684 as Koishikawa Medicinal Herb Garden. Soon after the Meiji Restoration in 1877, it became part of Tokyo Imperial University (now Tokyo University) as its center for botanical research.

 

There are over 4000 species of plants in the Garden that include 1,400 hardy woody species, 1,500 hardy herbaceous species, and 1,100 tropical and subtropical species, which have all been collected from all over the world. Most prominent among these are the plum trees, cherry trees, camellias, maples, primroses, and bonsai trees. As the Garden is located in a warm temperate zone, there is also a large section of natural vegetation of a mixture of broad-leaved evergreen forests and secondary deciduous forests dating back more than 300 years. These are located mainly on the sloping hills of the Garden. The Botanical Garden also has a herbarium with over 1.4 million specimens, and a library with more than 20,000 books and journals.

Located just a short walk from Myogadani Station, the beautifully landscaped Koishikawa Botanical Garden is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day except Mondays. Admission fee is ¥ 330.

 

Ochanomizu University

 

Ochanomizu University is one of two national women's universities of Japan. It was founded in 1875 as a teacher training institute in the Ochanomizu district of Tokyo (hence the name), but during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, it was completely burned down. In 1932, the university was rebuilt in the present location of Otsuka, Bunkyo Ward. With the years, more faculties were added and today Ochanomizu University offers both undergraduate and graduate courses in several subjects. For undergraduate courses, there are the Faculty of Letters and Education (includes Departments of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Languages and Cultures, Human and Social Sciences, and Performing Arts), the Faculty of Science, and Faculty of Human Life and Environmental Sciences. The Graduate School offers both Master's and Doctoral programs in all the different subjects.

 

This university of over 3000 women students is located 7 minutes' walk from Myogadani Station.

 

University of Tsukuba – Tokyo Campus

 

The Tokyo Campus of the University of Tsukuba is located about 2 minutes' walk from Myogadani Station.

 

University of Tsukuba is located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Kanto Region. The university, which is ranked among the top universities of Asia, was originally established in 1872 as Tokyo University of Education. Today the university offers several courses in both its undergraduate and graduate programs to over 15,000 students, but it is best known for its research programs in Physical Education, Physics, and Economics.

 

The Tokyo Campus of the University of Tsukuba was opened at its present location in 1989. The campus houses the university's Graduate School of Business Sciences, a comprehensive evening graduate school for full-time working people. This professional school offers both master's and doctoral degrees in the business management sciences.