Lovely Japanese Garden in Washington Park. The Gardens are actually five separate gardens linked by winding paths:a Tea Garden, a Strolling Pond Garden, a Natural Garden, a Flat Garden, and a Sand and Stone Garden. They were designed in the 1960s by Takuma Tono, a renowned Japanese landscape architect, and recognized by the Japanese ambassador to the United States as “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.”