Thanks 
Interesting - so if Iām reading this correctly, itās kind of an ancecdote/urban legend that gained traction 
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Basically, yes. Itās like how the phrase ālet them eat cakeā is heavily associated with Marie Antoinette even though she never actually said that.
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This might be a couple of a silly questions, but Iām gonna ask them anyway.
Bonsai are well-known around the world, but how common are bonsai actually in Japanese homes?
Likewise, about āJapanese gardensā. This style of garden might be common in public gardens, temple gardens, ryoukan grounds etc, from what I understand, but what about Japanese peopleās private home gardens? What type of gardens are common then?
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This survey from a few years ago has a question about which aspects of Japanese culture people have experience with, or consider a hobby of theirs, and 2.9% answered ēę ½. It was mostly elderly men.
Generally speaking, you donāt just get a bonsai to have it. You have to take care of it, and you need to learn how to do it, and the ones that are already 10 years old or more arenāt particularly cheap. So itās not the kind of thing the average person is going to want to devote time to.
As for gardens, I donāt know if Iāve ever seen a Japanese garden that wasnāt at a temple or something public. Family homes tend to just have a small plot of grass and some bushes or Japanese maple or whatever.
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I guess, I should have realized just how expensive bonsai are. We have some kind of cheaper alternatives sometimes that you can see, but which arenāt ārealā bonsai I guess. Theyāre just similarish techniques, but not the whole deal. I canāt explain it very well, but I got one from IKEA many, many years ago, and certainly not very expensive.
I guess, if you are investing in something expensive, you need to know how to care for it as well (and having time for it). 
Still, a bit surprised women arenāt as keen on it, just a reflection.
So, Iām guessing, not a garden as such, but just a front of the house thing? No backyard?
Edit: then what about apartment buildings? Surely they have some kind of common green space?
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I had a misconception about bonsai. I thought people would take one tree and tend it for decades, aiming for some ideal.
I suppose that might happen, but most people that get into bonsai tend many trees, only a few of which become successes. Itās closer to growing orchids than to carving a sculpture.
Itās very common to see gardens with many bonsai at various stages at peoples private homes on balconies and rooftops.
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So if they have them, many, and if not, none? Makes sense, as a hobby I guess. Either you have it or not. And I guess, bonsai are unlike other plants in that way.
Iām still curious about what private Japanese gardens are like. Hopefully, someone that have have one or have been to someoneās house with one can say?
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Foreigners (like me) are probably more interested in taking care of a bonsai than most Japanese folks are. 
I went to the Saitama Bonsai Festival some years ago and brought back a dying momiji bonsai because 1) it was cheap because it was dying; 2) it feels a lot better to nurse a plant back to life than get a healthy plant and cause it to die because you kill anything you touch lol.
Anyway, one of the things I noticed at the festival was the people who were showcasing their bonsai were all elderly people (think 60+ years old) and maybe some mid-aged (40ās-50ās) men and sometimes women. The young people (usually couples with kids) were enjoying the scenery, but they werenāt there to shop or show off their collection.
Young people in Japan are either studying their butts off or working too much. Either situation, they donāt have the time. Old retired people have all the time in the world. Theyāre the ones sweeping up the dead flower petals from their plants hanging over the side of their house or planting trees in the neighborhood.
Plus, bonsai is an art form like ikebana or nihonbuyo. Sure itās basically torturing a plant until it grows in the most aesthetically pleasing way, but even without being the hardcore type that works on a bonsai for years until it grows into a fully formed tree inside a pot, thereās still a lot of maintenance required to just keep it alive. It needs certain kinds of mulch and rocks, etc. for drainage (too much water causes rot and these things can be really picky). You need to constantly cut the roots so it doesnāt overgrow, but you also need to constantly replant because it is slowly growing.
I had a bunch of bugs growing on my momiji, and it felt really satisfying when I managed to pull them all out and rejuvenate the tree until fall when I was rewarded with beautiful fall colorsā¦ but then after that, admittedly, I just lost interest and track of time. Eventually it died, and that was that.
As for what a Japanese yard looks likeā¦ Japanese homes are really compact and your neighbors are very close by (think: you can hear your neighbors most of the time so very little privacy). Anyone who has a balcony or has a little bit of a āyardā in the back of their house is really lucky and probably very well off to afford a house with that kind of space (or it was inherited). Heck, some people are lucky to even have a private parking spot connected to their house (or even potentially two cars!).
Weāre lucky to have a sort of garden thing going on behind our house but our house is also abnormally large compared to most houses in our neighborhood. Thereās a sliding glass door that leads to a few feet of yard but thatās because we live right above a park. If there was another house behind us, it would be rude to have plants growing that could cross into our neighborās area. We have a second floor, so our balcony is also covered with plants as well as the inside of our house in the dining room (but this isnāt normal for Japanese people - my husband just really likes buying plants).
Thereās maybe one or two houses Iāve noticed in our neighborhood where the neighbors have their bonsai on display. Theyāre also elderly, but most houses here that have a garden just display the typical seasonal flowers, trees, etc.
Sometimes you can get lucky if you have an apartment on the second+ floor and have a little balcony to keep your plants. If itās a Leopalace (a very small apartment where the living space and bedroom are in the same room) then your balcony is just where your AC generator sits, and tenants tend to put a plant or two on top.
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Yes, in my experience, people that get into bonsai invariably grow several simultaneously. Itās a way if hedging your bets: some will get sick, others wonāt take well to your ministrations, etc. Itās not for the impatient, though, it takes many years, decades, to see impressive results.
Iāve been to a few private homes with nice gardens. Not temple quality, but nice nonetheless. If youāre fortunate enough to have a place for one, itās not uncommon. Most commonly in rural areas but youāll sometimes see very wealthy peopleās homes with one.
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Itās a hobby that takes many years and rewards patience. Young people have little of either.
Most of those sixty somethings started in their thirties or forties.
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Oh, donāt get me wrong. I was kind of interested in the possibility of āreal Japanese gardensā, what we outside of Japan donāt get to know about.
A bit like most people donāt know what a Swedish garden is like I think, but which defo is an aesthetic here in Sweden. I was thinking of what Japanese people really wanted in a garden, opposed to public gardens, that have a very different purpose. That being said, I was thinking some people must have āJapanese style gardensā as we know it, also privately, But I also suspected, many donāt. For various reasons, And I think I got plenty of answer for why that might be from you all, so thank you very much for that. ^>^
I guess, Iāll have to get into real research mode if I wanna know how common stuff is, but this thread is for sharing what you know, and so I love this form of asking better. <3 ^^
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Googling āJapanese home gardenā shows a few interesting examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=japan+home+garden&client=safari&tbm=isch
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Thanks! Iām checking it out! 
Curious act! <3 
Edit: It still makes me wonder somehow. Because what goes on the internet is what people want to present. Also, the keyword of āJapaneseā garden disturbs the search results likely. As that a style of garden, thatās the results you get, as thatās what people wanna see etc. etc.
As opposite of āany garden existing in Japanā. Not sure how to define that search frankly. ^^;
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I was thinking I was getting too personal for this thread, but now I regret moving this comment. I think it better explains my thought-process behind my question and I guess anyone should read it and answer if they can.
Tbh @Rrwrex I got interested in this question some time ago, while watching the British program of Garden Rescue. And someone asked for a āScandinavian/Swedish style gardenā. And I was like āwhut??ā when it came to both garden design suggestions. Very much pavement footpaths that simply isnāt present ever in a Swedish garden. Then there were the lack of evergreens I thought, rhododenron, cypress, āsilvergranā, pine and spruce, but also fruit trees especially were lacking which I thought odd. Swedish gardens tend to be focused on produce, beauty, but foremost practicality: we want to make stuff with these berries and fruit! And then thereās the need for perennials of multiple colors in the plantings, as that seems to be what people do here.
Instead, they constructed some kind of public park idea that just didnāt suit the garden well, no matter what, as yeah, a public garden has space whereas a private garden does not. 
Then I got thinking about my conceptions about Japanese gardens and gardeningā¦
What I know is just about public stuff, not about private gardens. And my bet is on it being different in various aspects.
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First idea would be to google in Japanese
ćććććŖåŗ or åŗć„ćć might be closer to what youāre looking for than āJapanese home gardenā (the English google results look very traditional and temple garden-ish)
The results obviously still went through the āonly gardens that people want to show online make it onto the internetā.
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Of course, I did however also wanna ask the community in this case. And I defo wouldnāt have come up with ćććććŖåŗ but maybe åŗć„ćć thought thatās not a word I knew already. So many thanks for that guidance! ^^
Iām still interpreting the stuff I got from these search terms. So to early to say, but still different for sure than looking from āJapaneseā gardens. ^>^
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Thatās fair! But I still get the impression that itās another dying art like nihonbuyo or rakugo. There doesnāt seem to be much interest in those traditional areas of Japanese culture anymore, so thatās why I assume many young people arenāt very present in those bonsai festival showcases (even just going around to shop for bonsai or those specific tools to use).
I know from doing nihonbuyo that most people I performed with were at least twice my age at the time and the funny thing is the only young people in our group were all foreigners while the rest were much older obaasans. And that was in the countryside where traditional ways are still respected. When I did my self-introduction at my schools in the suburban area of Hiroshima, I still remember a kid commenting ććć¼ćć°ćć”ćććØäøē·ćand also a teacher making a somewhat snide remark about the photo I brought:ćććć¼ļ¼ććć°ć£ććļ¼ć
Iāve been in about 6 Japanese houses (all from varying ages 20s ~ 60+ year old). Iāve never seen one of those aesthetically pleasing Japanese gardens that youāll see shared on Tumblr or presented in Hollywood films (or just anything remotely like the ones shown in the link shared above). Probably my favorite setup Iāve seen is at my in-laws with potted plants (with various designs of pots and types of plants) placed on each step of the stairs leading up to the second floor. (Of course, I get really nervous climbing the stairs to their houses as well but itās prettyā¦)
The setup that you probably are imagining are ones Iāve only seen at temples or shrines. Those places have money (and even though no one wants to admit it) are funded through tourism (especially if they offer goshuin and/or goshuincho), so of course theyāre going to put in the effort to make their garden have that authentic Japanese feel.
Itās justā¦ no normal person working a 9 to 5 job (well, technically longer than that here) will bother putting the time, effort, and money into something like that when they have hungry mouths to feed and nomikais to pay for.
Even my husband who loves his flowers slacks off watering them from time to timeā¦ (to be fair, there are a lot). Heās actually so happy when he hears that the weather forecast is a rainy day so he doesnāt have to water the plants outside, lol. But a lot of his motivation for having so many plants is also to create a homey environment for our guests (we run a guesthouse), so yeah, if we were a normal family, maybe we wouldnāt have such a big āgardenā either.
Itās midnight here, so instead of walking outside taking pictures in the dark like a weirdo, I zoomed through the Google street view of our neighborhood for examples of āgardensā outside of peopleās homes you can see. Itās probably less impressive than you assume, but this is about normal.
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At this house, thereās a little walkway to the entrance. The tree is planted on the upper level while they display potted plants along the stairs outside the gate. Plus thereās a little dirt area (what do you even call that?) where theyāve planted stuff along the front of the house too.
This house also doesnāt have much space, but the area they used is very smart. The trees are trimmed neatly, and it feels aesthetically pleasing for the neighbors to look at (but still far from perfect). I think this neighbor trims everything themself.
They keep a bunch of potted plants in front of the walkway of their house. The space on the right is the parking area.
And just a visual of the dividing line between our house and the neighborās house. I can hear the neighbors come home from our living room, and if theyāre talking outside, I can hear them from the kitchen. Not much privacy eh?
Hereās someoneās garden on their balcony. This is about the normal size for a balcony in many houses.
This is a larger house than what you expect to find (just look at the parking!). Notice how beautifully trimmed the tree in the center is. I bet many old people stop in front of the house and admire the aesthetic of the house. (Not even kidding.)
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Then I donāt. since I know too many YT channels of Japanese wood working now. And other traditional arts. I think we as outsiders are worrying needless. In any case, there are so many more people being exposed to stuff over there than in my own country, that the worry should firmly be over here if so.
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True, itās not always easy to know what to search for! I often let myself be guided by Googleās suggestions and results. If a word pops up several times, I might look it up separately. I saw ćććć in several search results, and having hiragana in the search term always helps to remove possible Chinese search result influences.
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