The japanese garden

Fall is a beautiful season to wander around the gardens of Akademgorodok. All trees seem to compete to expose their nicest colors for a few days, before October swallows all red, yellow, orange nuances and wraps the whole nature in a gray veil. So there was no better time to go and visit the japanese garden by the botanical institute. Actually, there would have been a better time... since the garden closes at 4pm and we arrived there shortly after 4pm. However this time, the security guard was nice enough to come out of his little shack and let us visit the park for 50 rubles.
The visit of the garden is well worth 50 rubles. And, contrary to other national parks and places where you wonder if they really need the money, here, it is obvious they need the money. It must cost a pile to keep building up their collection of empty alcohol bottles and buying the old steel bed frames, that are the main recurrent themes of the garden. Past the handful of bonzai trees that give the park its name, one can tour the main part which I guess is built around the theme of "post-war Nagazaki". There are a few signs saying :"Smile, you are on camera" are displayed prominently, just in case you had an impulse of steeling a cement bag or an old tire from the park.

So overall... if I were writing a guidebook I think I would give this park a nice little symbol that says:"to avoid". It is not better than on the other side of the fence, outside the park, where you don't have to pay to walk in the landfills.