The "Waste Land" Moerenuma Park


October 26, 2014


Last weekend on Sunday (October 26, 2014) I went to Moerenuma Park. It is located in Moerenuma-koen 1-1, Higashi-ku, Sapporo. I went there by bicycle with my PARE friends Nisa, Saki, Tomoya and Yunita. 

We started our journey from International House Kita 23 Building 2, Kita 23-jo Nishi 13-chome, Kita-ku, Sapporo 001-0023. We rode about 13 km of one-way distance from our dormitory, so totally we rode about 26 km that day (if refers to google maps :p). I expect losing much of calories that day. What a fun sports! :D

Bicyle Route
I waMoerenuma Park is a big park which has 1,888,000 m² of its area and consist of 16 facilities that is : Glass Pyramid, Cherry Forest, Moere Beach, Play Mountain, Tetra Mound, Music Shell, Aqua Plaza, Canal, Open-air Theater, Mt Moere, Larch Forest, Central Fountain, Open Space, Track and Field Ground, Ballpark, and tennis courts. [1] Unfortunately, we could not enjoy all of the facilities because the sky has getting dark :( and also we can not enjoy the open-air theater and central fountain because these facilities only opened in summer season.
Glass Pyramid
Play Mountain
Mt. Moere
Open-air Theater
Geometry Shape in the Moerenuma Park




All of these facilities reflect one of four basic forms that consist of three geometrical shapes, such as circle, triangle, and quadrangle. [2] Why he choose geometry shape? Probably you think about mathematics if you heard “geometry” word. People with the culture of Chinese characters tend to get the mathematic impression from the word "geometry" because of its Chinese characters and sound (Kikagaku which means geometry in Japanese came from Chinese transliteration). [2] On the other hand, Mr. Noguchi is an English speaker (his father is Japanese but his mother is American), so "geo" means earth, "met" means to measure, and "ry" means art. [2] Probably through the “geometry” concept, he want to deliver a message of “measuring the art of earth” through the park. :)











Moerenuma Park was designed by Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988). [2] The area named “Moere” was chosen by Mr. Noguchi as his workshop. The word "moere" means "tranquil water surface" in the Ainu language and the area remained a very quiet area until about a quarter of a century ago. [2]










Why I named my post as "waste land"?
Besides the beautiful scenery of this place, the most interesting things about this place is that it was a landfill before constructed as a park. Landfill is a place to dispose of refuse and other waste material by burying it and covering it over with soil. [3] Are you imagining that we are standing at the top of the garbage pile? Of course not! It was long time ago :) According to the document of “The Moerenuma Park and Isamu Noguchi”, this area is used for landfill since 1978 and closed in 1982. [2] And also, this area was a landfill for non-combustible (non-burnable) waste and waste from incineration. [2]
It was very fun and happy to enjoy one of beautiful natures in Sapporo and it is very interesting while we also know about the story of its place. I would say thank you very much to Nisa, Saki, Tomoya and Yunita that has beautify my autumn :)



Compiled from various sources.
  1. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moerenuma_Park
  2. The Moerenuma Park and Isamu Noguchi http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCgQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fultrasonic.up.seesaa.net%2Fimage%2Fthe20moerenuma20park.doc&ei=hmtUVInKIonV8gXH3YCICQ&usg=AFQjCNGJKLc4Xu6tUx-p9c6hAr81m0yXUg&sig2=RHdVm0ITT5N3ZzsEmodgYg&bvm=bv.78677474,d.dGc
  3. Google search


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