Tucked away on a hillside between two leafy residential blocks of central Tokyo sits Sakurazaka Park. Better known colloquially as “Robot Park,” its playground is unique among the city’s parks.
Sakurazaka is decorated with dozens upon dozens of retro-style robots (think, the robot in the music video for the Beastie Boys’ classic “Intergalactic”) and has a massive structure of ten multi-colored slides of various lengths and heights. It’s the kind of thing kids’ dreams are made of.
There’s a totem-pole like tower made of robots that rises 50-60 feet or so into the sky. Robot statues dot the various structures and landscape. There’s a bunch of those spring-mounted thingies that kids like to rock back and forth on, each in the shape of a robot. And mounted atop the set of slides is a quartet of robots.
Naturally the park is a mega-magnet for local children, their parents and nannies. The park is especially popular with foreign expat children. Japanese kids play with American, British, and Chinese kids.
Roppongi is home to a lot of foreign business people and their families, as well as the offices of some major multinational corporations and a few prestigious international schools. Kids run around laughing and screaming in Japanese, English and Mandarin. So the park is among the most cosmopolitan playgrounds in all Japan.
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