In Saratoga, there’s a Japanese garden called Hakone Estate and Gardens. To get there, you go up a steep driveway off of Big Basin Way, buy a token from the gift shop, and use the token to unlock a turnstile. Inside, everything’s verdant green and richly textured. The softest breeze rustles the leaves of bamboo and maple leaves.
Hakone Garden’s winding paths are ideal for idle strolling. Because the garden is planted on a hill, each turn affords a new view. Armed with a map, I started uphill through the Bamboo Garden, took stairs down to the Tea Garden, descended farther to admire the koi pond and bridge at the lowest part of the garden, then wound around to see the rock garden.
Interestingly, the Moon Viewing House in the tea garden and the bridge over the koi pond both appeared in the movie adaptation of Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha.
Thi fall has been unseasonably warm and dry, so there were few of the “fall colors” promised by the Hakone Gardens website. In the bamboo garden, the tips of some bamboo were yellow and straw-like. Despite this, the sights were still very striking and lovely.
There weren’t many people during my weekday visit, so I was able to take several practice shots on my recently acquired DSLR without feeling too self-conscious. Unfortunately, taking pictures in sun and shade is not ideal. I’m still figuring this camera thing out! I’d like to bring my camera back to the Hakone Gardens in spring, when garden’s colors are supposed to be most striking, and the cherry blossoms are in bloom.