The beauty of the Osaka Gardens is unimaginable. Its peace and tranquility is overwhelming, and it posses a feeling of isolation from the outside world. Which is thickly ironic because the Gardens are located in the City of Chicago. I really enjoyed following the paths of the garden, and gazing at the large pond. Yet at the same time I was confused, "why is the garden here?" "what purpose does it serve?". My answers came from a plaque in the entrance. The gardens were originally called the Ho-o-den Pheonix Palace and it was dedicated to the US on March 31, 1893 to be part of the Wold Fair. An educated blogger Ray Johnson says it was designed; "to be a place of solitude and serenity and Chief Daniel Burnham complimented the Japanese officials for a job well done". In 1930 the health of Ho-o-den Palace and the gardens took a toll do to the economic decline. And worst of all in 1945 a suspicious fire burned the palace down. Who would have burned the Palace down? The chances that this was an accident are very slim. Judging on the timing; 1945 the end of World War II, I believe it was anti-Japanesse Americans who burned down the gardens. This is such a shame because the gardens were a great honor to receive. The city of Chicago valued them so much that in 1979 they re built the gardens and renamed them the "Osaka Gardens". The name was chosen by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1993, in order to; "commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Chicago’s sister city relationship with Osaka, Japan". Who do you think burned down these beautiful gardens in 1945? Angry Americans or could it have just been an odd accident?
Ho-o-den Gardens
Osaka Gardens
I definately agree with you that it's way too much a coincidence that it was just accidental. This is just an example of how little tolerance Americans can have for other cultures. Sure, we had just gotten out of a war with them so of course there would be some negative feelings. But it is wrong to do something like that which shows so much animosity towards a whole race of people, when most Japanese people wanted to stay out of the war and were even mistreated by the US. I think this also relates to many American's feelings today towards Middle Eastern people. The problem is that it is so easy for this country to clump together a whole race of people as being the same as the small number of people of that race who actually are our enemies.
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