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| - I had been meaning to bring my wife to the Japanese Garden for a few years, and we finally made it a few months ago. It really is a beautiful garden, and the way they designed it is really cool. It is basically a trip through different geographical areas of Japan (mountains, seaside, etc) in a few acres of gardens. There are numerous seating areas where you can relax and meditate on your surroundings. The big complaint that I have, and the reason that it gets only three stars from me, is that they don't allow food in and they don't even provide a place separate from the garden to eat. I had packed a picnic lunch for my wife and I, and we intended to relax on a blanket and eat. Nowhere on the website was it posted that food wasn't allowed. Only when we arrived, after a thirty minute drive, were we informed that food wasn't allowed. When I asked if there was anywhere that we could eat, I was told that the park next door, Hance Park, had picnic tables. We ended up eating there, with all of the homeless people wandering by to remind us what part of town that we were in. If they just set aside a few tables before you entered the actual garden, or designated a certain section as being food-friendly, this place would be much better. I don't think the environmentally-destructive, litter-friendly, NASCAR crowd is going to be frequenting this place very often. I think that the patrons are probably responsible individuals that are going to be cleaning up after themselves, leaving the gardens as beautiful as they found them.
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