Of course the cherry blossom is very much better known than the plum blossom I mentioned in a previous blog post. And yes, it is really great to stand under a whole sea of pink! I guess most visitors to Japan know the Japanese term for cherry – Sakura –...Continue Reading
Hi there! You’re in Tokyo? Maybe staying at Tokyo Family Stay’s Conoe Sanbancho’s Apartment?And you would like to see a park or garden? Then let’s go for a walk! A walk around and through the Tokyo Imperial Palace! Of course, you can start on any side of the Imperial Palace...Continue Reading
You may remember my blog post about this Ryokan from back in early 2019. Now, one year later, I finally finished the eBook about this wonderful place and its gardens! Actually, I hoped for an opportunity to visit it after the renovations which took place until summer last year but...Continue Reading
My first trip to Kyoto was back in April 2006. On my list were many famous temples including Daitoku-ji. However, I didn’t visit the Zuiho-in sub-temple back then. In 2014 and 2015, I visited Kyoto again, also Daitoku-ji, but only for special autumn openings and Zuiho-in was not on that...Continue Reading
Summer is a living nightmare for most in Japan with temperatures only getting higher in recent years. As a professional gardener living and working in Tokyo for the past seven years, I have no choice but to leave our lovely air-conditioned office and head to whichever garden we are...Continue Reading
Hi there! If you follow us on Social Media, you will know that I had my Kiyosumi garden tour on June 15. And I did it in the pouring rain! And do you know? We had a lot of fun! It seems that the weather made some people not to...Continue Reading
Years ago I frequently visited Kamakura with its many temples. While I visited really a lot of temples, one temple listed on our website I always missed. This was Hasedera. Now that I planned to complete the eBooks for the Kamakura area I visited the temple twice and started with...Continue Reading
In November, right before the first heavy snowfall, I had the chance to visit the famous ryokan (traditional Japanese guesthouse) Ryugon. The Ryugon opened its doors in 1964, the same year the Olympics took place in Tokyo. However, most of the buildings on the grounds are much older! Utsugi, the...Continue Reading
Being involved in a time-consuming publishing process on Amazon, I am very happy I finally found the time to write a new eBook for Real Japanese Gardens. In July, I wrote two articles about the Adachi Museum of Art for two web magazines, so I chose our new eBook to...Continue Reading
Kyoto and Tokyo are well known for their density of fine Japanese gardens. What fewer people know is, that also other areas have quite a few reasonable Japanese gardens. One of these I would like to introduce today. Shizuoka Prefecture, former Tōtōmi Province (another name: Enshū) Before the daimyō system...Continue Reading
