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"In
a Japanese Garden"
By Lafcadio Hearn
"No
effort to create an impossible or pure ideal landscape is made in the Japanese
Garden. Its artistic purpose is to copy faithfully the veritable
landscape, and to convey the real impression that a real landscape communicates.
It is therefore at once a picture and a poem; perhaps even more a poem than a
picture. For as nature's scenery, in its varying aspects, affects us with
sensations of joy or solemnity, of grimness or of sweetness, of force or of
peace, so must the true reflection of it in the labor of the landscape gardener
create not merely an impression of beauty, but a mood in the soul."
Excerpted
from:
The Atlantic Monthly
Volume 70, Issue 417
July 1892
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Order of the Rising Sun
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2008
Contact: Vice Consul Takeshi KODO
culture@cgjnashville.org
Japan Honors LSU Boyd Professor Jack P. Strong
On April 29, the Government of Japan officially announced that Dr. Jack
Perry Strong, Boyd Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, Louisiana
Health Sciences Center, would be honored with a prestigious decoration, the
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, in recognition of his
outstanding contributions to academic and cultural exchanges between Japan
and the United States of America. The decoration will be conferred by His
Majesty the Emperor of Japan.
The Orders of the Rising Sun, established in 1875 as Japan's first award,
recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to friendly
relations between Japan and other countries. Dr. Strong has been recognized
primarily for his longtime contributions to academic exchanges between
American and Japanese doctors and researchers and also his dedication to
cultural exchanges between sister-cities of New Orleans and Matsue, Japan.
Dr. Strong first became interested in Japan through his exchanges with
Japanese doctors. Later he became interested in Japanese culture and even
started learning the Japanese language. As an internationally known
pathologist, Dr. Strong has been facilitating exchanges between American and
Japanese doctors and researchers. He trained and educated many young
Japanese doctors who have now become leaders in the medical circles in
Japan. In addition, as Past-President of International Academy of Pathology
(IAP), Dr. Strong strongly supported Japanese pathologists in their efforts
to host an international conference of IAP.
Dr. Strong has also been leading efforts to build a Japanese garden within
the New Orleans Botanical Gardens, City Park as President of the Japanese
Garden Society of New Orleans. The Japanese garden was named after the
Japanese name of a renowned author and journalist Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi
Yakumo) who lived and wrote both in New Orleans and Matsue, Japan. The
Yakumo Nihon Teien or Yakumo Japanese Garden offers the people of
Katrina-weary New Orleans a place of peace and serenity.
Dr. Strong received a congratulatory message from Masahiko Koumura, Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Japan, shortly after the official announcement of the
recipients of decorations. The Consular Office of Japan plans to host a
formal conferment ceremony and a reception in honor of Dr. Strong at City
Park on Tuesday, June 10.
Dr. Strong lives in Metairie, Louisiana with his wife Mihoko.
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Further information about the event and other Japan-related programs may be
obtained by contacting the Consular Office of Japan in Nashville at
615-340-4300 or info@cgjnashville.org.
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