Since 1963, the Portland Japanese Garden has served as the rare place where one can be simultaneously enriched, educated, and inspired. In those 52 years, we have gone from serving 30,000 visitors to over 300,000 per year. Today, the Garden continues to be a living symbol of the strong friendship between the United States and Japan, providing a cross-cultural exchange and offering visitors a window into Japanese culture, philosophy, and art. It is for these reasons and so many others that we are excited to announce our expansion and launch the public phase of our capital campaign, Cultural Crossing.

Our Cultural Crossing campaign represents the opportunity to help shape the future of the Portland Japanese Garden. Building on its celebrated past, we’ve developed an expansion strategy to support the Garden’s changing needs—both today and in the future.

Although the size of the Garden has not changed since it opened, it now accommodates ten times more visitors than originally intended. Our expansion seeks to protect the visitor experience by providing additional space to accommodate this rapid visitor growth.

In addition, the Garden is now considered an international partner in safeguarding the preservation of Japanese garden arts and culture around the world. Its current educational and event facilities need to be expanded in order to fulfill this key role and responsibility.

To address these challenges and position the Garden for future success, the Cultural Crossing project will allow us to incorporate new gardens, state-of-the-art educational facilities, and other amenities that will improve the overall Garden experience. Please join us on our continuing journey as we carry out this exciting new phase of the Garden’s story.

Stephen D. Bloom, Chief Executive Officer
& Cynthia Haruyama, Deputy Director