Masayoshi Ohira Park

A thematic park that transports us to the country of the rising sun. This is the ideal place to rest and get away from daily stress. Cherry trees, asian style building and a quiet creek charm all the senses of the visitors. 

Where the name comes from. The park opened in 1942 and was long known as Parque de la Pagoda, after the structure that crowned it and was later lost to fire. In May 1980 Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira made the first official visit to Mexico by a Japanese head of government; he died a month later, and the park was redesigned along traditional Japanese garden lines and renamed in his honour as a symbol of friendship between the two countries. A further overhaul in 2014, backed by the Japanese community in Mexico, included a donation of cherry trees.

What to see inside. The centrepiece is the lake with a torii gate standing in the water, the park's most photographed view. Around it are maples, plum trees, peonies and the cherry trees that bloom in spring, along with bridges, stone lanterns and paths laid out so the garden reveals itself in stages. It is small compared with Chapultepec, made for slow walking rather than exercise.

Getting there. It sits on Corredores, colonia Country Club Churubusco, in Coyoacán, about three hundred metres from General Anaya station on metro Line 2 and just off Calzada de Tlalpan. The National Centre for the Arts and Estudios Churubusco are close by; the studios often use the park as a location.

When to go. The cherry blossom, between late February and March, is the best season and also the busiest; the rest of the year, weekday mornings are quietest. A senior citizens' centre operates inside the park, so it is very much an everyday neighbourhood space.