Things I didn't do early on: Going gaga for gardens

In my home country, I don't think I ever sought out a garden to visit. Maybe the big botanical garden in my home city, but I just don't really think there's a real "garden" culture back home. A big part of the 2000s/early 2010s when I still lived there was marked by drought, so it's not even like people could do much when it came to maintaining their front or back yards...we had water restrictions that would prevent people even watering plants!

Part of the gardens at the Adachi Museum of Art in Shimane Prefecture

That's probably a big part of why I didn't really get into the garden scene here for a while, because it's just not something that was on my pre-life-in-Japan radar. Now though, it's one of my favorite ways to spend time, and one of my favorite things to seek out whenever I travel somewhere new.

My favorite garden has been the Adachi Museum of Art Gardens in Shimane, which have regularly won awards for their beauty. If you ever get the opportunity to visit there, I would highly recommend it...but I have no doubt that there's some kind of cool garden to check out irrespective of where you're located here!