Visitors are welcome Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. Morikami is closed every Monday and also on major national holidays.

The price of admission is $10 for adults, $9 for senior citizens, $6 for children (age 6-17), and $6 for college students with a valid ID card.

The staff can be reached by phone at 561-495-0233 or by fax at 561-499-2557.

So far we've visited the Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens twice.

We went a second time to take advantage of Bank of America's "Museums On Us" program which grants BOA credit or debit card holders free access to over 70 museums in the US.

The Morikami Museum was opened in 1977 to preserve the history of the Yamato farming colony, which was composed of farmers from Miyazu Japan and led by Jo Sakai.

The community was formed in 1904 and survived until the 1920's. George Sukeji Morikami was the colony's only resident who chose to remain in what is now northern Boca Raton.

He worked as a farmer and fruit & vegetable wholesaler until the mid 1970's when George, now in his 80's, gifted his land to Palm Beach County.

His wish was for the land to become a recreational area that would also preserve the history of the Yamato Colony.

The new building, erected in 1993, features classrooms, a museum gift shop, a cafe, a Japanese courtyard garden, a scenic lakeside terrace, a 225 seat theater, a Japanese tea house replica, a library, exhibition galleries, and 1000's of Japanese art objects & cultural artifacts.

Some of the highlights of walking through the gardens are the waterfalls, the Japanese stone lanterns, the shallow creeks, the "Deer Chaser", the nature trails, the wooden bridges, the Bonsai tree collection, the bamboo groves, the peaceful lakes and the wildlife.

There are park benches and drinking water dispensers conveniently located along the pathways to ensure an enjoyable experience for visitors of any ability level.

The variety of gardens contained within Morikami's perimeter explore Asian gardening concepts from the 9th century through the early 20th. These include the Shinden Garden (Heian Period 9th-12th centuries), the Paradise Garden (Kamakura & early Muromachi periods 13-14th centuries), the Early Rock Garden (early Muromachi period 14th century), the Karesansui Late Rock Garden (late Muromachi to early Edo periods 16th-17th centuries), the Hiraniwa Flat Garen (Edo Period 17th-18th centuries) and the Modern Romantic Garden (Meiji Period lat 19th to early 20th centuries).

During our visit, I filmed a few short video clips of the scenic surroundings and the wildlife that resides at the Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens. It is encoded in the WMV (Windows Media Video) format, runs about 2 minutes long and has a file size of 17 mb (megabytes). To view the movie, click on the link below. To download the movie to your hard drive, right-click and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As".