Musashino Central Park

Musashino Central Park is a nice and spacious green field where people come to fly kites and rubber-band powered airplanes, have picnics/barbecue, or just simply run around or play catch with kids. There also is an area where children's soccer games are played. It is a very peaceful place and I've visited it with my family many times.

But this place has a very sad past. Until the end of WWII, this was occupied by Nakajima Aircraft Company's main engine factory. Because the engines were mainly for war planes, it became a target for air bombing by the US military. It was raided 9 times in 1944 and at least 220 factory workers lost their lives. Only a couple of years ago, I recall that a construction crew of a renovation of the city hall (which is close from the park), found unexploded bombs in the ground.

After the war in 1948, this place became the US military housing. Internet tells me that there were 780 US military families - over 2000 people lived here. It was finally returned to Japan in 1973 and the government of Tokyo decided to make it into a park. For that, we can now enjoy a nice open field.