Portland’s Japanese Garden is situated on the grounds of the city’s defunct zoo and spans a whopping 12 acres of Washington Park. Dedicated to honoring the deepening cultural ties between Oregon and Japan, it originally opened to the public in 1961 as a place of solace for the city’s residents. Visitors can still get those two distinct feelings from the Japanese Garden, which is wonderfully laid out in a variety of styles to create a serene environment.
The picture-perfect Flat Garden, the relaxing Strolling Pond Garden, and the beautiful Ceremonial Teahouse can all be found in the Garden. The park hosts a variety of events such as cultural exhibitions, lecture series, and meditation walks. In its bright and trendy Umami Café, the garden serves tea and Japanese finger foods.
Ex-Japanese Ambassador to the United States His Excellency Nobuo Matsunaga visited Portland Japanese Garden and deemed it “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.”
The Garden is a calm urban sanctuary for Portlanders and visitors alike, perched atop the hills of the city’s famous Washington Park. It was designed in 1963 and spans 12 acres, featuring eight distinct garden types, a genuine Japanese Tea House, winding streams, cozy walks, and a breathtaking panorama of Mount Hood. Here, you can forget your troubles on Earth and focus on your place in the cosmos.
Inspired by the conviction that peace itself holds the key to a durable truce. Originating from an awareness of the benefits of interacting with people from other cultures. The Garden and all its endeavors are manifestations of its progenitor’s faith in the superiority of handiwork. This idea was conceived from the insight that our respect for nature makes the aforementioned things more tangible and achievable.
Portland’s Japanese Garden is an oasis of diversity, anti-racism, and cross-cultural tolerance. As a group committed to fostering harmony within and between communities and cultures, we have an obligation to provide a safe haven where members of our local community can come to relax, contemplate, and recharge their batteries.
Growing cultural ties between Oregon and Japan in the late 1950s prompted Mayor Terry Schrunk and Portland residents to envision a Japanese garden in the former location of the Washington Park Zoo. They wanted to create a healing connection to Japan after World War II by establishing a Japanese garden, and they also wanted to give the people of Portland, Oregon area access to a garden of great beauty and peace. Around this time in the United States’ past, Japanese gardens were established all throughout the country in an effort to foster cross-cultural understanding. Without the need for a translator, a person from the United States may gain an intimate understanding of Japanese culture by observing the country’s natural beauty.
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