BLOG

Verny Park near Yokosuka base

A pleasant and unique park is located just a short walking distance to the north of Yokosuka Navy Base.  It is called "Verny Park" and is named after Francois Verny, the leader of a team of French naval engineers and officials who arrived in Yokosuka during the mid-1860s to help plan and build-up the Japanese Imperial Navy's harbor and shipyard facilities.  The park was opened in 2001, and is designed in a French style, with a fountain, cupola, benches, and boardwalk, etc., and faces the inner harbors where U.S. Navy and JMSDF ships are berthed.  Verny Park is also famous for its large flower gardens, in which over 1,700 roses of 160 varieties are planted.  The prime season for the roses to bloom starts in May and visitors from all over Japan come to the park to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of the flowers.  Verny Park also hosts two small museums which display historical items and information from the era when Yokosuka was modernized and expanded into a major navy base.  The Verny Commemorative Museum houses a large steam hammer, which was imported from Holland in 1866 and used in the iron works & shipyard for over a century thereafter.  Then there is the Yokosuka Modern Heritage Museum/Thibaudier Residence, which was partially built using original materials from a wooden house built for a French official back in the 1860s.  Monuments are placed at various locations around the park and a particularly large one is the 41-cm gun barrel from the battleship MUTSU, which was built in Yokosuka in 1921.  Finally, Verny Park hosts a nice restaurant called "Amalfi Marina Blu", which is perfect for dining in a relaxed and scenic atmosphere.  More information about the park is provided at the links below.  We hope you will have the chance to visit and enjoy Verny Park while you live in Japan.　

Written by Goodfield

- - - - - - - - - -

Links:

History of Yokosuka's Verny Park:

https://us.iino.cc/blog/blog.html?eid=00065

Historic Thibaudier House:

https://deepyokosuka.blogspot.com/2021/09/rare-old-house-for-french-maritime.html

Restaurant Amalfi Marina Blu:

https://us.iino.cc/blog/blog.html?eid=00101