Yoyogi

Yoyogi Station is located in Shibuya Ward just south of Shinjuku Station. It is served by Yamanote and Chuo-Sobu Lines of East Japan Railway Company, and Toei Oedo Line of Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation.

Transfers between the Yamanote and Chuo-Sobu Lines are easy at Yoyogi Station as the two single JR platforms stand facing each other. There are three exits to these platforms, the East Exit, West Exit and North Exit. The West and North Exits have easy access to the Oedo Line. The Oedo Line has just one platform with lines on either side.

Yoyogi Park  

Located adjacent to Yoyogi Station is Yoyogi Park (Yoyogi Koen), one of the largest parks in Tokyo . A vast expanse of grass and trees, Yoyogi Park is a popular place for jogging, picnicking, gathering to play music, practicing martial arts, or for practically any other outdoor activity. There are cycling paths with free bicycle rentals for children, fountains, ponds, eating places, and seating facilities where you can just sit and enjoy the beauty of the place and get away from it all.

Yoyogi Park covers an area of over half a million square meters and has over 15,300 trees, 92,500 shrubs and 200,700 square meters of grass. Unlike most other parks of Tokyo , the flora of Yoyogi is very luxuriant and it looks more like a forest than a park. Although there are not as many cherry trees here as there are in other parks, Yoyogi still attracts thousands of people in April to admire the magnificent cherry blossoms. There are crowds in autumn as well, when people come to see the beauty of the ginko trees that turn intensively golden during this time.

Before Yoyogi became a park in 1967, the site was several other things. It was the site of the first successful powered aircraft flight in Japan on December 19, 1910, after which it became an army parade ground. During the occupation after World War II, a housing complex for the American military personnel called Washington Heights stood here. Then in the early 1960's the place was developed for the Olympic Village, and the National Stadium was built for Tokyo 's 1964 Olympic Games.

Yoyogi National Stadium

Yoyogi National Stadium was built for the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo . Designed by Kenzo Tange, the stadium, located inside Yoyogi Park , is famous for its suspension roof and futuristic tent-like design. It can seat 10,500 people. During the Olympic Games, the swimming and diving events were held here. Today the stadium, now primarily used for ice-hockey and basketball games, remains one of the most prominent landmarks of Tokyo .

NHK Studio Park  

NHK Studio Park is located next to Yoyogi Park . It is the part of NHK Broadcasting Center (headquarters of Japan 's television and radio broadcaster) that is open to the public. Here visitors are given a chance to see behind-the-scenes of NHK Broadcasting.

At NHK Studio Park , visitors can see how popular television programs are recorded and broadcasted. Visitors are also introduced to broadcasting technologies such as dubbing, graphics and 3-D images. The history of Japanese broadcasting is narrated and information on past television programs and announcers is given. There is also a small studio theme park with various attractions where visitors can try their hand at announcing or acting. A small gift shop sells TV-themed T-shirts and other Japanese novelties to be bought and taken home as souvenirs. There is a small admission fee at NHK Studio Park.