Minami-Temma Park

A poor cousin to nearby Nakanoshima Park, but peaceful nonetheless

Minami-Temma Park (南天満公園) lies just to the East of the splendid Nakanoshima Park, and fronts the north banks of the Kyū-Yodo River. This is a park with no grass. Instead it's dominated by trees. Looking at photos on the web, it looks like a good place to see the cherry blossom. At the time of visiting though, there was little to really recommend about the place. It's fairly unkempt and doesn't have much in the way of features (save for a massive and exotic looking palm tree). The cherry blossom trees may be great for that season, but otherwise they block out views of the river. There are some scruffy benches dotted about the place, if you feel the need to sit. All that being said, Minami-Temma Park seems like a quite and peaceful place. And it is green. The gravel walkways may make for some fairly decent and largely uninterrupted jogging (there were about two people in the park when we went), and it could work out as a bit of an escape from the city (and its people). At the Western end of the the park there are some astro turf tennis courts which were all in use at the time of visiting (a Thursday afternoon in late summer). We didn't spot any other facilities here. Oh, and you can really smell the river here. That could be a good thing or a bad thing.