I’ve probably seen more of the country of Belgium than many Belgians, and it’s starting to become a challenge to find new surprises there. But on this particular trip I stumbled across Japan in Belgium at Hasselt’s Japanese Garden, designed and constructed with the collaboration of Hasselt’s Japanese sister city, Itami.

The design is based on the traditional Japanese tea garden, complete with a tea house…

but there were always signs that I was not exactly in Japan…

even if it seemed like I was…

It’s a lovely place to spend an afternoon, and the clear highlight for everyone there was the koi fish:

Is it wrong I feel like having some sushi right now 😀 ?