いい庭の日 – Good Garden Day 2025
On 11/28 is ii Niwa no Hi – Good Garden Day!
People in Japan enjoy wordplay and number puns, which leads to some amusing celebration days (for example, Good Tooth Day…).
The 28th of November has now become known as Good Garden Day.
Here’s how the numbers are read:
1 – ichi → i
1 – ichi → i
2 – ni → ni
8 – and this one is a little tricky, so let’s break it down.
The number 8 is usually pronounced hachi or ya. In this particular case, the relevant sound is ha.
Some of you might already know a little Japanese.
For example, the greeting こんにちは – kon’nichi wa, meaning “hello.”
The は here is normally written and spoken as ha, just as in はな (hana, “flower”).
However, when used as a particle (は, の, で, etc.), it is pronounced wa—the は marks the topic of a sentence and shifts to wa there.
For our number 8 in the date, we apply that same change and read the は as wa.
This kind of irregular reading appears quite often in Japanese and usually comes from older forms of the language—just as European languages have shifted over time, Japanese has also evolved.
So when the ni (2) combines with the wa (from the 8), we get niwa, meaning garden.
And ii (11 → i + i) means good.
Put together, we get: Good Garden Day!
Naturally, the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association takes advantage of this date to promote Tokyo’s gardens.
They invite everyone to enjoy a visit on this special occasion—and conveniently, it falls right in the middle of peak autumn colour season.
And while you’re out exploring, don’t forget to bring along our Garden Guide Books ^_-
You will find a special offer on our Payhip site, where we put all our eBooks in discounted bundles.
Good Garden Day on Real Japanese Gardens
- All 43 Garden Guides in one Bundle
- All 16 Kyoto Guides in one Bundle
- All 15 Tokyo Guides in one Bundle
- All 7 Kamakura Guides in one Bundle
- … and many more!
With twelve years of professional landscaping experience under her belt, Anika Ogusu is your perfect guide to the world of Japanese gardens. Her love of nature began early, in the woods near her childhood home and the garden of her grandmother’s house. During her teenage years she developed a strong interest in Japanese culture, and after university she decided to combine her love of Japan and gardens into a profession. Anika started her career as chief gardener in charge of the perennial valley at the Botanical Garden in Hamburg, Germany, then moved to Tokyo in pursuit of her dream. For two years she apprenticed under local landscape designers and learned the art of Japanese garden design, construction and maintenance. Now, in partnership with Real Japanese Gardens (www.japanesegardens.jp), her wish is to spread the magic of Japanese gardens to the rest of the world. Her in-depth guide books on gardens throughout Japan are available in eBook format or paperback. In her free time, Anika enjoys exploring her adopted country (especially green moss gardens), and soaking up nature and any details that interest her.
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With twelve years of professional landscaping experience under her belt, Anika Ogusu is your perfect guide to the world of Japanese gardens. Her love of nature began early, in the woods near her childhood home and the garden of her grandmother’s house. During her teenage years she developed a strong interest in Japanese culture, and after university she decided to combine her love of Japan and gardens into a profession. Anika started her career as chief gardener in charge of the perennial valley at the Botanical Garden in Hamburg, Germany, then moved to Tokyo in pursuit of her dream. For two years she apprenticed under local landscape designers and learned the art of Japanese garden design, construction and maintenance. Now, in partnership with Real Japanese Gardens (www.japanesegardens.jp), her wish is to spread the magic of Japanese gardens to the rest of the world. Her in-depth guide books on gardens throughout Japan are available in eBook format or paperback. In her free time, Anika enjoys exploring her adopted country (especially green moss gardens), and soaking up nature and any details that interest her.
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