Japanese Gardens

March in Japan is very warm. Lately, while my family suffers through fridgid below zero tempertatures in the northeast, I've been enjoying weather in the 40-50's (Fahrenheit, 8-15 Celsuis). Therefore, I have found a need to revisit nature.

While it's still too early for cherry blossoms, leaves have been bursting out of trees, flowers of various kinds have bloomed and birds are singing. Last week I took a nice hike in Jokoji where there is a national park. This week I opted to stay closer to home and visit a large park in Nagoya.

The park includes baseball diamonds where I enjoyed watching Japanese players bow at one another before beginning pitching practice. After strolling through the park for awhile, I happened upon Shirotori Garden, a beautiful little respite in the middle of the thriving city of Nagoya. For 300 yen (about $3) you can enjoy walking through a garden replica of the Kiso River, complete with a minature representation of Mt. Ontake and a tumbling waterfall. There are numerous benches to sit and contemplate amist the sound of falling water. Even better, there are rock paths that lead through tree covered paths along the ponds.

Much like Ikebana, Japanese Flower arranging, Japanese gardens seem to recreate nature, rather than simply trying to artifically manufacture perfection the way western style gardening can. There are streams, three ponds of varying sizes, a lawn filled with cherry blossom trees (so close to blooming but not ready yet) and a traditional Japanese teahouse in the center.