Hibiya Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

View south from Hibiya Park toward Fukoku Seimei Building (center left) and Shinsei Bank Building (right). Shisei Kaikan is visible behind the fountain.

Hibiya Park (日比谷公園, Hibiya Kōen^?) is a park in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan. It covers an area of 161,636.66m² between the east gardens of the Imperial Palace to the north, the Shinbashi district to the southeast and the Kasumigaseki government district to the west.

The land was occupied by the estates of the Mōri clan and Nabeshima clan during the Edo period, and was used for army maneuvers during the Meiji period. It was converted to a public park in 1903.

The park is famous for the Shisei Kaikan (市政会館, Shisei Kaikan^?), a brick building built in Gothic style in 1929, which once housed the Domei Tsushin state wire service and its postwar successors Kyodo News and Jiji Press.

The park is also known for its open-air concert venue, and for its tennis courts (for which reservations are hotly contested due to their proximity to the financial and government districts).

[edit] Surrounding buildings

Shisei Kaikan, former home of Japan's newswires

• Attorneys' Hall (Japan Federation of Bar Associations headquarters)
• Fukoku Seimei Building
• Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
• Ministry of the Environment
• Ministry of Health and Welfare
• Ministry of Justice
• Mizuho Bank Building
• Nissei Theater
• NTT Hibiya Building
• Shinsei Bank Building
• Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Building