So... I've been talking about gardens in Tokyo, but if you are going to go to Japan in early May to visit gardens, one of the truly fab places to visit is the Northern Culture Museum just outside Niigata-city. They have one of the great wisteria plants in the world. 
Being the totally mod cultural museum they are, they have their own twitter account @hoppo_bunka and show pics all year round. This, live, from Sunday.
The museum is the house and grounds of what used to be the largest farming operation in Japan. It is a cool place to visit - internal museums, a beautiful old main building, art museum, Japanese gardens, tea house, etc. And it is great in winter, spring, summer, and fall.
And if that weren't enough, just a short drive from there is the Nakano Tei Museum - a fabulous and huge traditional old house built by the Nakano family (Niigata oil money) where they also housed their art collection. The tiny English site is nakanotei-muse.com/top_english.ht…
The grounds are best in fall when the leaves turn. Up until a few years ago, the elder Nakano (great grandson) wd sometimes be around to chat with interested patrons of the arts (he =expanded the collection). Unfortunately he passed a few years ago after living a healthy 90+yrs.
From there, it is a short trip north to the town of Murakami - particularly great in October to early December. Famous for its salmon run on the Miomote River, the town has festivals, and tours and you can see enjoy great autumn colors in the mountains just behind. And salmon!
Murakami is known for 'shiobiki' (cut open the salmon, wash, pack it in salt for 24-72hrs, then rinse it for 2-6 days, then hang it to air dry for 3-6mos over winter). Walk around the town and they are EVERYwhere from November to early spring. Nov-Dec is good for fresh salmon.
Feb-April is good for the shiobiki - which is the dried/cured salmon cut into tranches and grilled. Super dense salmon flavor (water content has evaporated) and delicious with the local koshihikari genus rice (tops in Japan).
Then if you wait a full 6mos for the super dry stuff, it becomes salmon jerky called 'sakebitashi' which means "Dipped in sake" (the rice wine), something of a pun, because salmon is also 'sake' or 'shake'. Lay it out, pour over some sake, let it soak, then... yum.
Also near Murakami are great gardens, old samurai houses, decent onsen, and the mountains. And if you go to the fishing port, some great seafood fresh off the boats. Up the coast is Sakata - a great, historical city known for its rice trade, and more.
＃ちょっとした日本ツアー
＃ちょっとした日本ツアー
And those wisteria will be lit up every night until the 10th of May.
And it's lit up nicely in autumn too.
And it's lit up nicely in autumn too.
