Anderson Japanese Garden: Enjoy Japan from Illinois

Living in the State of Illinois, we may not have as many “natural” places as in California or other western states. We have some state parks across the state, but, there is none of the United States National Park here. However, there are some “manmade” places that we (still) can enjoy, such as Anderson Japanese Garden. I have been dreaming to visit Japan for years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the dream seems a little obscure now. Thus, visiting the Anderson Japanese Garden in late Summer 2020 helped me to relieve from stay-at-home boredom and I could enjoy Japan from Illinois.

Anderson Japanese Garden is located in Rockford, IL. Approximately one and a half hours from Chicago Downtown. My visit to Anderson Japanese Garden was a part of the Illinois-Iowa Summer Roadtrip that three of my Indonesian friends who live in Chicago and Evanston and I had. We started the road trip from Chicago, as I picked them there, our meeting point was in Chicago. The Anderson Japanese Garden was our first stop. Surprisingly, driving from Chicago to Rockford was a little bit different, I found hillier road than when I usually drive from Champaign to Chicago or other northern and central of the state.

As we arrived at the garden, we could feel the Japanese nuance — trees, ponds, water, houses, rock sculptures, flowers, and all the greeny. Konnichiwa!

Well, I never technically visited Japan, but I have traveled from Narita Airport to Haneda Airport in Tokyo during my transit back home to Indonesia in 2011. Also, I watched a lot of episodes of Detective Conan (a Japanese anime series) and I enjoyed reading Japanese traveling books, I become more familiar with Japan. Also, I have a lot of college friends who attend graduate school in Japan. I saw a lot of their photos and videos living in Japan. Anyway, I am familiar with Japanese nuance! Lets back to Anderson Japanese Garden. The garden was built around 1972 by a Japanese landscape designer, Hoichi Kurisu when he founded Kurisu International Inc. He also designed some other Japanese gardens in Iowa and Florida.

To enter the garden, you will need to pay the admission fee. As all of us are students, we got the student's price, $11/person. We hesitated that we could get the student’s price, but I was thinking why don't we ask :)

As we entered the garden, I saw the biggest pond (see Pict 1), this pond is surrounded by a lot of different trees with different heights as well. Don't be surprised, a lot of people would take pictures around the pond, including us. You may need to wait for photos to avoid the crowd and practice social distancing. Next to the pond, there is a house, to me, it looks like a pavilion. But since it was close (due to the pandemic), I could not explore what is inside the pavilion and I do not know how the interior design of the building looks like. From the pond, we were required to take the right side, and could not take the left one because they made only one direction for the visitors’ walks.

As I explored the garden, I enjoyed it so much! I love the combination of trees (and their leaves), water (including its sound when it flows), voices of birds, and the way the designers constructed the garden. To me, he wanted to bring Japan to the place. And he was successful! I could feel the Japanese ‘characters’ and the message of balancing between life and nature when I was in the garden. I felt so therapeutic when I was exploring the place, and it was so relaxing. The garden could somehow clear my mind — after months of working from home and did not visit any places outside Champaign County.

Unfortunately, the buildings (pavilion and houses inside the garden) were closed. I was imagining if by any chance I can join the Japanese Tea Ceremony inside those houses, that would be awesome! Instead, I only could see the exterior from outside. It is still really relaxing though. During my walk within the garden, I stopped several times for photos, and just to enjoy and got relaxed.

Another thing that I really like about the garden is the thematic spot. Thematic spot means there are some designated areas inside the garden that are labeled for a certain theme. For instance, the garden of reflection (see picture 5). If I was here alone, I might stay longer in this garden just to think about life and what is going on. If I am alone, I will think (about anything) deeper especially when I saw the garden of reflection, the spot provides a little bench for people to sit and the surrounding of the bench will stimuli a person to start thinking and reflecting about themselves (maybe their lives, families, schools, etc). At least, that what I would if I was there only myself.

Lastly, my overall visit to the Anderson Japanese Garden was enjoyable and relaxing. If I have a chance in the future to visit the place again, I surely will go. Besides, it helped me to at least “enjoy Japan from Illinois,” it also provided me a therapeutic experience as I could feel good about life when I was breathing inside the garden. I could feel relaxed and reduce some stress that I might have. I think spending time in Anderson Japanese Garden was one of my relaxing experiences in 2020! :)

Note: Visiting Anderson Japanese Garden amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Luckily, Anderson Japanese Garden was open! I do not know whether it opened in the early pandemic in the United States or not. As we visited the garden in the middle of August 2020 when Illinois has reopened, we would able to visit. But, please check the website because things may change during this circumstance. During the pandemic, the garden has a lot of signs such as the route to follow when you walk throughout the garden. You can not walk as you want, but you should be award to those signs such as “please wear a mask in this area.”

If you want to visit the garden, here is the address:

Anderson Japanese Garden’s address: 318 Spring Creek Rd, Rockford, IL 61107