This outdoor space features a bamboo gate, granite steps, lush greenery, a 500-year-old stone Japanese lantern and benches that invite visitors to sit in quiet contemplation. Y?shien, whose name translates to “Garden of Friendship,” honors the friendship between Amherst College and Doshisha University in Kyoto. Doshisha was founded by Joseph Hardy Neesima of Amherst’s class of 1870—the first Japanese person ever to graduate from a Western institution of higher learning.