Eliane Schmid
Eliane Schmid is a Swiss Global Historian with a focus on Japan. Having lived in Japan when she was little, Eliane has been fascinated by Japanese culture and history from a young age. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and English Literature from the University of Zürich and received her Master’s Degree in History and Philosophy of Knowledge from ETH Zürich. In collaboration with Tessaku and Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj), Eliane has participated in Oral History projects recollecting Japanese American incarceration during WWII. Her current research centers on the role of public urban green spaces in Japan, the US, and Switzerland in the Postwar period.
Updated March 2022
Stories from This Author
The Making of Hakone Gardens: An Entangled History of American Elites and Japanese Gardeners, 1915-1932
March 3, 2022 • Eliane Schmid
This is the story of Naoharu Aihara, Isabel Stine, and Hakone Gardens—a Japanese garden located in the lush hills of Saratoga, California. Hakone Gardens, open to the public since 1966, harbors a complex history beginning with Bay Area socialite, Isabel Stine who, engulfed in a passion for everything Japanese, set out to create a miniature Japan for herself, and Naoharu Aihara, who became the master gardener and creator of this dream. Though there is hardly any concrete information about him, …
