The Tokyo Metropolitan Medicinal Botanical Garden, located in the city of Kodaira, in the western suburbs of the Japanese capital, isn’t your typical green space.
Founded in 1946, the seven-acre herbarium is split into 14 sections that consist of specifically-themed greenhouses, farms, and gardens, which are home to more than 1,600 plant species. Most of them have medicinal uses in one way or another, from traditional Chinese medicine to modern pharmaceutics, to culinary pursuits. The grounds host common species such as plum and peony, poisonous plants such as clematis and spider lily, and more domestic and exotic.
The garden is particularly known for its experimental crops in a section guarded by double fences and multiple surveillance cameras. This is the only farm in Tokyo where opium poppy and cannabis are legally grown, but strictly guarded.
