Tokyo Metropolitan Medicinal Plants Garden, Physic garden in Kodaira, Japan.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Medicinal Plants Garden is a physic garden in Kodaira, a city west of Tokyo, displaying over 1,600 plant species arranged in themed sections and greenhouses. The plants are grouped by their use, ranging from pharmaceutical sources to toxic species.
The garden was founded in 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, at a time when access to medicines was limited and research into local plant remedies was considered urgent. It was established under the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health and has operated as a research site ever since.
The garden displays plants used in traditional Chinese medicine, Japanese Kampo healing, and modern pharmacy side by side. Walking through the sections, visitors can see how the same plant often appears in very different healing traditions.
Entry is free and the garden is open Tuesday through Sunday. Signs throughout the site are in Japanese, so a translation app can be helpful for visitors who do not read the language.
The garden includes fenced areas with double barriers and surveillance cameras where controlled plants such as opium poppy are legally grown for approved research. This makes it one of the few publicly accessible sites in Japan where such plants can be seen growing in person.
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