The Japanese Garden in Flemish Hasselt is the result of the friendships that the cities of Itami (Hyogo Prefecture, Japan) and Hasselt have maintained since 1985. Hasselt donated Itami a tower carillon in November 1991, and Itami donated the Japanese garden. With an area of 2.5 hectares, it is the largest Japanese garden in Europe.


The garden was created by the Japanese with elements imported from Japan.

It was originally intended that the Japanese would use a portion of the 2.5 hectares to build a modest Japanese part in the park.
“Lost in translation”: However, the Japanese had misunderstood that they had to build the entire domain. Even more so as they did not want to let themselves know, the donors persevered in the full disposition. As a result, Hasselt has, inadvertently, the largest Japanese garden in Europe.

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