TOKYO -- To call Tokyo a "garden city" flies in the face of conventional preconceptions, particularly those strongly conditioned views of the capital as a concrete jungle. There is some truth to this perception. Viewed from towers and rooftop observatories, the city can look like an exercise in thwarting nature, concealing or obstructing its greenery in the misguided cause of progress. Descend to ground level, though, and Tokyo reveals what may be the highest concentration of formal gardens of any Asian capital.
Home to an impressive number of landscape designs and commissioned by the heads of noble families during the Edo period (1603-1868) then, in a later period, by wealthy entrepreneurs, several of those estates have survived, although at a reduced scale. They are supplemented by a number of modern, experimental gardens, confirming Tokyo's continued commitment to the art.
