Golden Gate Park – Japanese Tea Garden – San Francisco

Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at3:50 pm by Wanda

Pagoda in the Japanese Tea Garden Golden Gate Park The Japanese Tea Garden is just a short walk from the de Young museum and it cost $7.00 to enter.

Like all the Japanese gardens I have been to there is lots of water and greenery.

Its a bit of a maze to walk around but that just adds to the charm and you come across interesting things hidden in amongst the plants.

We stand for a while watching the gardener trimming and shaping the bushes around a pond, and I comment to Val about the absence of fish. Most Japanese gardens I have been to always have lots of large multicolored Koi, goldfish and nearly always there is an enormous white catfish with long dangly bits on its face.

Its a beautiful day and there are a lot of people strolling around taking in the sights and the soothing sound of water running over rocks and down rocky outcrops.

In the distance there is the sound of a bamboo wind chime which simply adds to the magical atmosphere.

And then of course the serenity is broken by the harsh sound of a mobile phone with its jangly music. It never fails to amaze me that people cannot turn off their phones for a few minutes and they are oblivious of anyone within earshot as they shout down the phone about imagined crises.

Surely needing to know that ‘Joe is going to meet us at the pub after work and then we are going onto Brenda’s', doesn’t have to be discussed for all to hear right at that moment.

So as the peaceful moment has been shattered by this person and their conversation conducted at 90 decibels, it is time to take our leave.

Our bus tour guide had told us that the gardens were tended for many years by one man who along with many other members of the Japanese community, was interred during the war and it fell into disrepair for some time before being resurrected.

The majority of the folk I have met and talked to in San Francisco are just so delightful in that they are proud of their mutlicultural society and they delight in the treasures that other cultures have brought to San Francisco, such as the diverse range of food, entertainment and art. And the internment of their Japanese community during the second world war,which from what I gather was a Federal decree, appears to have had a profound and embarrassing effect on a number of the people I have spoken to, even though it was so long ago.

There is a cafe where you can sit and have tea and eats and just enjoy the serenity.

The Japanese Tea Garden is just another beautiful place to visit in San Francisco when you are there.

From here we stroll across the park in front of the sound shell, towards the California Academy of Science.

Now for some photos of the garden.

Entrance to the Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park

Entrance to the Japanese Tea Gardens