This year, in 2025, our site is 20 years old. 20 years of traveling around the world to enrich our nomenclature and create these visit pages to help you discover all the wonderful places we have had access to. We spent the entire month of March 2025 in Japan, to rediscover this endearing country, revisit gardens we had already visited during our first trip in 2015, and discover others. As we did for our trip to Sydney and New Zealand, this page will be an introduction to all the gardens we visited and an update for those for which it will be possible.
We begin our tour in Tokyo, including the famous Shibyua crossroads. But Japan has many other facets... Outside of the tourist areas, Tokyo is a peaceful city. There are many gardens, all very well-kept, where it is a pleasure to walk and stroll. Below, the gardens of the Imperial Palace, in the heart of Tokyo.

Then, we leave Tokyo to discover our next stop. Barely two hours of Jetfoil from Tokyo, we discover Izu-Ôshima, the camellia island. It's a volcanic island, but also a "Garden Island", which has three million camellias. It's everywhere, on roadsides and in gardens, as we saw on our tour of the island. It is grown, among other things, for its oil. There are three Garden of Excellence ICS, and we visited all three of them. Izu-Ôshima is an astonishing and endearing place.

This is the island's first Garden of Excellence ICS. It belongs to a private individual, Mr. Takashi Yamashita. He created and maintains this garden. The collection is remarkable, and on a clear day, you can see Mount Fuji. Unfortunately, this was not the case during our visit.

Our visit to Mount Mihara, a beautiful walk to reach its crater and see the sea.

This is one of the largest camellia gardens in Japan. It houses approximately 1,000 species of camellias, including about 3,200 trees and 5,000 "wild" camellias in a forest adjacent to the main park.

This is a unique visit. This is a camellia grove that allows students from the Ôshima Metropolitan High School to study the camellia, which is the island's most important product. The collection is extensive and includes at least 350 camellias obtained in Izu-Ôshima. Below is one of them.

Before leaving the island, here's its most beautiful view: the one of Mount Fuji. That's what the locals of Izu-Oshima say: on a clear day, it's wonderful.

Our next destination was Kyushu Island. We circled the island and returned to Kurume and Kumamoto, where we had already been in 2015.

The Kurume Camellia Garden is a beautiful garden. We visited it in 2015.

Then we took the lovely walk between the Kurume Camellia Garden and the Word's Camellia House. We didn't know it. It's lined with camellias.

We returned to the greenhouse and the exhibition pavilion. This time, we were able to visit the outdoor garden of Word's Camellia House.

And to finish our visits to Kurume, we return to the Ishibashi Cultural Center.

Following the 2016 earthquake, it is no longer possible to access the Higo's Japonica collection, which we admired in 2015. The damage to Kumamoto Castle is considerable and the work is colossal. Visits to the castle are still limited.

From Kumamoto, it's easy to drive near Mount Aso. We were able to walk to Kusasenri ga Hama for a view of Mount Aso.

Next, we head to Miyazaki, on the east coast of Kyushu Island.

This garden is Japan's first Garden of Excellence, chosen in 2003. It was inaugurated in 1990. Covering 41 hectares, it boasts 48,000 camellias and approximately 1,000 species. It's a stroll through a vast camellia forest. It's highly original in its design and approach.

Near Miyazaki, this amazing place is Aoshima-Jinga and these volcanic formations are called the Devil's Washboards.

We finished our tour of Kyushu Island in Oita. We visited Ruru, a very large park with two sections of camellias: those outdoors and those in the greenhouse. In the greenhouse, we found some Higo Japonica. The weather prevented us from seeing the outdoor collection.

Leaving Kyushu, we stop in Hiroshima. The Japanese are very proud of their "Mont-Saint-Michel," Miyajima in Hiroshima Bay. The two towns are twinned.

From Hiroshima, it's easy to take a boat (a Super Jet) and travel to Matsuyama. The round trip is easily made in a day. All this to see a remarkable camellia garden.

Iyo Camellias are a family of camellias (about a hundred) that have the distinction of being born in Ehime Prefecture, where Matsuyama is located. Matsuyama General Park is vast, and a section is dedicated to its camellia collection, this is Camellia Land.

It's a magnificent botanical garden in the heart of Kyoto. We weren't able to explore it in 2015. But too few camellias were in bloom, which is a shame.

A very nice surprise during our visit to Osaka. It's a very pretty park, full of flowers, with a wonderful collection. But the names are only written in Japanese.

Our next stop will be Kanazawa, at the foot of the Japanese Alps. Between Tsuruga and Kanazawa, we'll take the newest Shinkansen line, which will open in 2024. You can't travel to Japan without experiencing the comfort, tranquility, and punctuality of the Shinkansen. Kanazawa is also connected to Tokyo by the same line.

The city of Kanzawa has a lot of charm. You can visit the wonderful Kenrokuen Garden (the garden of hanging trees) and find the famous Kutani porcelain, which is very popular on the collectors' corner page.

In the Kanazawa region, here's the most beautiful camellia greenhouse I've visited in 20 years, with 500 camellias on display throughout the flowering season: Tsubaki Kan. And outside, Tsubaki Yam has about 800 camellias. A truly extraordinary visit.

Still in the Kanazawa region, we went to Nanto. March is the month of camellia festivals in Japan. We were able to visit an exhibition of potted camellias, in addition to the greenhouse and garden.

Finally, in the Kanazawa region, in Toyama, we visited the greenhouse with reticulata native to Yunnan.

Then we returned to Tokyo for the end of the trip. We were able to visit the Bonsai Museum, an extraordinary place, where some specimens are between 500 and 800 years old. The one below is 350 years old.

This magnificent botanical garden has a very rich camellia sector that was beautifully blooming. A nice surprise for the end of the trip. While the names are written in Japanese, there are tables by sector (it's very well done) with translations in Latin characters.

This beautiful property in Tokyo with this magnificent Japonica by Higo whose name we don't know, but which is worth a visit.

And here are the cherry trees. The blossoms began in late March in Tokyo. The Japanese are very attached to them. They enjoy taking pictures of them or taking pictures of themselves near them.

Deer are often encountered in Japan, here on Miyajima. They are not wild and are a delight for tourists.

More visits in Japan