
By Will Lerner, Communications Manager for Portland Japanese Garden & Japan Institute
On January 19, 2025, history was made at Portland Japanese Garden when Oregon State Representative Mari Watanabe was sworn in by Justice Aruna Masih of the Oregon Supreme Court to fill a vacant seat for House District 34. Watanabe, who has served on the Garden’s Board of Trustees since May 2024, is the granddaughter of Japanese immigrants and has been a Portland resident since 2000.
She has also been a highly admired leader in her community. As Nadia Hasan, an elected leader on the Beaverton City Council and master of ceremonies for this special gathering, noted, “Representative Watanabe has long advocated for rights and humanity of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. Those values are the touchstone of her choices and actions, stemming not the least from the forced removal and illegal incarceration of her family and 120,000 other Japanese Americans because of their ethnicity during World War II.”

“Motivated by this, she left a well-paying job at Nike to work as the Executive Director for the Japanese American Museum of Oregon,” Hasan continued. “Mari is the epitome of leadership. She says our names in rooms we are not in. …She guarantees us the opportunity to sit at tables that were not always built for us.”
Representative Watanabe’s appointment, certified by Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read at the ceremony, makes her the first Japanese American woman to serve in the Oregon legislature, a body that held its first regular session in 1860. “I am so proud to be the first Japanese American woman in the state legislature,” Watanabe shared. “I am a third generation Japanese American whose ancestors have been in America for over 120 years. This is historic.”
Oregon’s newest legislator took time the following day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, to discuss with us this important moment for the region’s Japanese American community, the state of Oregon, and Portland Japanese Garden.
A Milestone Moment Takes Place at the Garden
While the creation of Portland Japanese Garden is most directly tied to efforts among the city’s civic leaders and friends overseas in Sapporo, Japan in the aftermath of World War II, its importance gains deeper significance when one considers those of Japanese ancestry were subject to government-sponsored cruelty as soon as they began immigrating to Oregon in the 19th century. While work remains to make the region a place where Japanese Americans, and all Asian Americans, can thrive and live without fear of discrimination, the Garden has been credited as having facilitated better understanding and friendship with a culture and people once dubbed “the enemy.” The organization’s mission of Inspiring Harmony and Peace is thus both a statement of deeds done and aspirations that propel it forward.
Watanabe, who is co-chair of the organization’s Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion Committee, shares that the Garden’s history and mission resonates with her, and that’s why she chose it as the site of the ceremony.
“I just thought of what place resonated with me, my values, and my heritage the most—it was Portland Japanese Garden,” Watanabe says. “I thought, ‘Wow, if I could have this ceremony there, that would make this a complete circle.’ I was really happy when [Lisa Christy, Executive Director of the organization] said yes. Lisa was so gracious and the staff was so willing.”
“When we have places that are of and share different cultures it makes the people from those cultures feel more welcome knowing they are represented,” Watanabe continued, explaining why places like Portland Japanese Garden are important to their communities. “It then allows others who do not understand or know about this culture to learn without having to fly to Japan. The Garden’s programming really helps people expand their respective on Japanese heritage. I think this is very important—being able to have places to come together and be inclusive and encourage understanding. It really makes me feel good people love the beauty and culture of the Japanese.”
A Highly Admired Member of the Board of Trustees
Portland Japanese Garden is fortunate to have dedicated, experienced, and passionate individuals on both its Foundation Board and Board of Trustees. Watanabe becoming a Trustee in May of 2024 was yet another boon for the organization. In addition to her leadership at the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, she served as Executive Director for Partners in Diversity, an organization that helps employers build and strengthen diverse workforces. She has won numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oregon Commission for Women in 2023. In 2011, Watanabe was chosen by the U.S.-Japan Council to be among a 13-person delegation of Japanese Americans to help strengthen transpacific relations between the two nations.
“I really admired how the Garden went from a smaller organization into one that was globally known during Steve’s tenure as CEO,” Watanabe shared, referring to Steve Bloom, CEO of Portland Japanese Garden from 2005 to 2024. “Shining that light on Portland was major. I really respected the work that Steve and the Garden was doing. I was honored when he asked me to join the Board of Trustees and I’m glad to be able to help. I’ve always loved the beauty and simplicity of Japanese gardens, so that plus being able to be part of a great organization with a strong Board of Trustees and excellent staff was something that attracted me.”
Watanabe was working the apparel industry when she moved to Oregon and rarely had time to visit any of the city’s remarkable attractions, let alone the Garden. Her connection to the organization began to develop later when she joined the Board of Portland Taiko, a cultural partner of Portland Japanese Garden that has performed taiko drumming on its grounds for several years. “I love the Sand and Stone Garden,” she offered when asked if there was a space she particularly enjoys. “After I learned that it is thought to depict the story of Buddha sacrificing himself to save starving tiger cubs, it became my favorite garden space. But I also love ‘The Tree’ and Flat Garden.”
On Being the First
It is always a joyous moment when leaders from marginalized communities navigate a thrum of historic and still systemic persecution to achieve success in government, business, the arts, nonprofits sectors, and beyond. And yet, these watershed events are also tinged with regret—these individuals should not have encountered barriers in the first place. We should not have waited this long for such firsts.
“I didn’t want to be the first,” Watanabe notes. “I think the Japanese American experience during World War II created this cautiousness of doing something like this. When my family was incarcerated, they didn’t know why. They were told they were an enemy alien. They didn’t even know where Pearl Harbor was or had ties to Japan. They realized, ‘We are being thrown behind barbed wire because we look like this. We look this way, we look like the enemies.’ I have been thinking about those whispers and things that I heard all my life, based on their experience, that to be a good American, you have to keep your head down, don’t make waves. Being in politics is definitely going against all those things. I’m going to say that for me this is really stepping out of my comfort zone.”
“I look at Tiffany Koyama Lane, the first Japanese American elected to the Portland City Council,” Watanabe continues. “She’s a fourth generation Japanese American [Yonsei]. I’m third [Sansei]. I’m hopeful that going forward there won’t be as much hesitation to step in and step out.”
“Sometimes people will come up to me and say, ‘Oh my god, I came just to hear you speak because it’s the first time I’ve ever seen an Asian woman speak to this group,’” Watanabe concludes. “Even just last week I had somebody’s son who was born in Vietnam want to come work with me just because I look like him. Those things are not lost on me. I think that’s why I keep saying to myself, ‘Representation matters.’ We need to see ourselves in these positions so that we know we can get them if we want them.”
Officials Who Attended Rep. Watanabe’s Swearing-In Ceremony at Portland Japanese Garden
Portland Japanese Garden was honored to receive multiple elected leaders and officials throughout the region to witness and participate in Representative Watanabe’s swearing-in ceremony. Those who attended are below. People who, like Watanabe, have made history, are accompanied by notes below their names.
Ben Bowman, Representative for District 25 & Majority Leader, Oregon House of Representatives
Julia Brim-Edwards, Commissioner, Multnomah County, Oregon
Dr. Tammy Carpenter, Board Member, Beaverton, Oregon School District
Nafisa Fai, Commissioner, Washington County, Oregon
(First immigrant and refugee, first Black, and the first Muslim Commissioner for Washington County)
Nadia Hasan, Beaverton City Council
(First Muslim to serve on a city council in Oregon, first South Asian American elected in Beaverton and Washington County)
Dr. Edward Kimmi, Beaverton City Council President
Tiffany Koyama Lane, Vice President, Portland City Council
(First Japanese American on Portland City Council)
Barbie Minor, Board of Directors President, Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
Felicita Monteblanco, Board of Directors, Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
Alfredo Moreno, Board of Directors Secretary, Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
The Honorable Adrienne Nelson, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon
(First Black woman to be Judge on U.S. District Court for District of Oregon; First Black Justice appointed to Oregon Supreme Court)
The Honorable Aruna Masih, Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
(First Indian American, South Asian American, and Punjabi to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court)
Daniel Nguyen, Representative for District 38, Oregon House of Representatives
(First person of color elected to Lake Oswego City Council, first Vietnamese American to serve as public elected official in Oregon)
Tobias Read, Oregon Secretary of State
Tawna Sanchez, Representative for District 43, Oregon House of Representatives
Thuy Tran, Representative for District 45, Oregon House of Representatives
Pam Treece, Commissioner, Washington County, Oregon
Kien Truong, Board of Directors, Portland Community College
The Honorable Chanpone Sinlapasai, Judge for the 4th Judicial District Court, Oregon
(First Lao and first Lao refugee to become a judge in the United States)
The Honorable Ulanda Watkins, Judge for the 5th Judicial District Court, Oregon
(First Black person to serve as judge in an Oregon county other than Multnomah)
Helen Ying, Board of Directors, Multnomah Education Service District