The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry will take on projects to restore Japanese gardens overseas with the aim of spreading Japanese culture and luring more tourists to Japan. When fiscal 2017 begins on April 1, the ministry plans to send landscape engineers and other ...
Between the years 1924 and 1975, Mirei Shigemori (1896-1975) designed more than 180 gardens in Japan, an extraordinary creative output by any standard. If Shigemori was best known as a landscape designer, an artist in the placement of stones, it is worth noting that his ...
Even before seeing the great sights of Nikko, the visitor cannot fail to be impressed by the luxuriance of the area's moss. Towering cryptomeria trees, allowing filtered light to penetrate ground cover, provide ideal incubation zones and levels of exposure and protection for the ...
Most visitors are awed by Kumamoto Castle's imposing walls; myself, I am more preoccupied with the stairs. According to the map board just inside the Hazekata Gate, there are many of them, tracing a convoluted path up to the raven-black donjon.
How do you appreciate a Japanese garden? The typical temple visit — where you ponder a seemingly random assemblage of rocks and raked gravel or push your way through a throng of tourists jostling for camera angles — can leave one confused and underwhelmed. Kyoto-based ...
