Portland Japanese Garden was established in 1963 to be a place of cultural immersion and great natural beauty for its community, both residents and visitors alike. The Garden is exceptionally proud to be a crown jewel of Portland and to be a tranquil, urban oasis that fosters inner peace for all who roam its landscape.

425,000+ projected visits by year end. The organization is delighted to welcome folks from more than 90 nations and territories and all 50 United States.

284 total events. The Garden played host to a remarkable number of different events including festivals, demonstrations, food and drink programs, and special performances.

13,000 Member Households. Memberships provide unlimited free admission, special access to the Garden and its festivals, seminars, and workshops, as well as exclusive discounts all while helping us pursue our mission of Inspiring Harmony and Peace.

1,308 hours given in Garden tours. Led by our incredible volunteers, these tours help give richly detailed background to the cultural inspiration and natural beauty within the Garden.

25 mindfulness tours. Experienced guides use the Garden’s capacity for reflection and healing to lead these intimate tours for members, focusing on mindful awareness to oneself, and the world around us, through intentional observation and connections. 

7 photographer hours. There might be no more beautiful place in Oregon to photograph than the Garden. These earlier mornings and longer evenings allow our photographer members to enjoy the Garden without the crowds. 

2 sold out days. The Garden becomes absolutely dazzling in the fall, and this year was no different. In 2025 we completely sold out of tickets twice on days during our peak fall.

1 spot in the new Portland Monopoly game. Roll the dice … we’re on the board! Portland Japanese Garden is one of the lucky spots in the brand-new Portland edition of the classic board game.

As an organization created specifically to cultivate inner peace as well as peace between peoples and cultures, the Garden has a responsibility to be a place where every single person in our community is welcome. These numbers reflect our intention and aspiration to welcome more people here.

6,855 free admissions through local libraries. Select libraries throughout the Portland metro area, including those in the Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas County systems, can check out free admission to the Garden.

3,543 “Arts for All” tickets sold. Portland Japanese Garden is a proud participant in Arts for All. Low-income individuals who receive food stamps (SNAP) can purchase admission $5 each.

459 Moon Bridge Memberships. “Moon Bridge” Memberships are available to local families receiving public income-related assistance. It costs $20 and the standard benefits of membership are included.

25% of Garden Guests are now able to enjoy the Umami Café. In 2025, the Garden shifted its business model to counter service. Previously only 7% of our guests could enjoy our world-class green teas and handcrafted wagashi (Japanese sweets).

46 weekends in the Family Studio. The Garden expanded its Family Studio offerings in 2025! This interactive space offers a welcoming environment for all to explore their artistic side, providing a relaxing and engaging experience for both children and adults alike.

Portland Japanese Garden will never truly be “complete.” All gardens are a continual work in progress that connects generation to generation through a shared belief that we can find comfort and joy through the beauty of nature. Here are some of the works that your support helped our gardeners accomplish in 2025.

4.5 new tatami mats added to the Tea House. Thanks to $7,760 donated by our volunteers, we were able to add new tatami from a highly respected Tokyo-based and family-owned manufacturer to this treasured space for the first time in nearly 25 years.

20 tons of gravel added to Entry Garden path. To help make the walk through our Entry Garden more comfortable and more safe, our gardeners took on the massive task of adding tons of gravel to the switchback trail.

300 hours of gardener-led instruction. This year the Japanese Garden Training Center held seven different programs. Our team of gardeners helped assist Hugo Torii, Garden Curator and Director of the Training Center, in providing instruction.

35 bonsai displayed at the Garden. It’s always a wonderful time of year, every spring through autumn, when we display delightful bonsai on loan from friends throughout the area. This year saw a variety of beautiful tiny trees in our Ellie M. Hill Bonsai Terrace and Jubitz Oregon Terrace.

1 guest gardener from Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The Garden welcomed Anne Hunter, gardener and at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, to become the latest professional to participate in our Professional Gardener Work Exchange Program. Later in the year, Evan Cordes, Lead Gardener, reciprocated and flew to New York.

15,000 feet of straw rope acquired for yukizuri. Returning in 2025, our charming winter decorations require quite a bit of straw rope so that our trees throughout the landscape can be artfully protected in the event of poor weather.

We all need spaces beyond home and the workplace to go, enjoy, and be with others. Portland Japanese Garden recognizes that it has the ability to be a “third place” for people that can meet their emotional needs ranging from solace to jubilation as well as a place to foster new friendships and relationships.

75 new Sakura Society Members. In 2025, the Garden launched its Sakura Society, a dynamic group of members ages 21-45 brought together by their passion for Japanese gardens, culture, and art. These members are a leading voice for cultural understanding, in pursuit of a more peaceful, sustainable world.

10 Sakura Society events. The 75 first-year members of the Sakura Society were able to enjoy a variety of exciting and new events through the Garden, including yoga at the Pavilion, lunches at our corporate sponsor Bamboo Sushi, and more.

235 active volunteers. Volunteers are the heart of Portland Japanese Garden, giving tours, acting as docents for art exhibitions and bonsai displays, greet visitors in the Cultural Village, serving as ambassadors of our mission and history, providing horticultural support, helping us host events, festival celebrations, and workshops, and providing much needed help behind the scenes.

40 new volunteers. These individuals made a commitment to the Garden and an investment in our mission by choosing to volunteer with us and for that we are profoundly grateful.

813 pieces by local artist Aki Sogabe sold. We’re so pleased that our organization can be a place that helps support local craftspeople such as Sogabe, whose mastery of kirie, intricate paper cuttings, were a huge hit in our Gift Shop and Behind the Shoji.

942 calendars for 2026 sold. Is there any more beautiful place to photograph in the Pacific Northwest than Portland Japanese Garden? The dazzling photos our photography members took this year have made our 2026 calendar stunning.

12 local partners at our inaugural Members Day. In 2025 we enhanced our annual Meeting of the Members so folks could visit us on a day we’re typically closed, learn more about our programming, and visit booths from community partners, most of which were representative of the Asian American, Native Hawai’ian, and Pacific Islander communities.

Not only an urban oasis of great natural beauty, Portland Japanese Garden is among the foremost Japanese cultural institutions in North America. Through demonstrations, performances, festivals, workshops, and more, we provide a glimpse of Japan that is rewarding for both newcomers and experts alike.

7 cultural festivals attended by 8,356 people. Since the 1970s, the Garden has brought together the community to celebrate traditional Japanese cultural festivals.

113 demonstrations and performances in the Cathy Rudd Cultural Corner, attended by an estimated 7,000 people. We are honored to have the incredible support of local artists, practitioners, musicians, and presenters give their time to educate and delight Garden visitors.

14 workshops. A magnet for those who seek to learn more about the cultural pursuits of Japanese culture, the Garden hosted workshops covering ikebana, textiles, tea ceremony, kintsugi, and katazome.

4 exhibitions of Japanese art. Portland Japanese Garden is a natural vehicle through which to explore Japanese art and design. Introducing a wide array of artists and art forms, our exhibitions covering kintsugi, Bizen ceramics, katazome, and gardens themselves, reflected on ways we experience harmony and peace.

6 horticultural exhibitions of ikebana and bonsai. We’re thrilled to be a place that local ikebana schools and the Bonsai Society of Portland can come to showcase the stunning horticultural arts they’ve mastered.

904 do-it-yourself kintsugi kits sold. Inspired by our emotionally resonant exhibition, Kintsugi: The Restorative Art of Naoko Fukumaru, our Gift Shop will approach 1,000 sales this year, connecting people with an artform centered on healing and the beauty of imperfection.

7 Training Center programs. Returning the Training Center’s slate of lectures, workshops, and seminars was a top priority in 2025, and we’re pleased to share that we did just that, including our flagship program, Waza to Kokoro.

More than any stone, plant, or water feature, the most beautiful element of Portland Japanese Garden is the people who enter its grounds. Together with our community, we were able to demonstrate that places like this one can mean so much more than what one might think a garden is limited to.

7 special programs including an appearance from George Takei. We were thrilled to host a variety of memorable gatherings, including a performance from the legendary George Takei alongside award-winning musicians Kenji Bunch and Andy Akiho, an International Tea Gathering, Living Traditions, our Japanese Government-backed program, and our first ever Japanese food pop-up.

11 days touring Japan. Our special member tour group was accompanied by an English-speaking Japanese guide and got exclusive access to explore sites in the cities of Okayama, Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo.

1 forum organized by Portland Japanese Garden and the GREEN×EXPO 2027 held at the University of Tokyo. This the second TEIEN FORUM, titled “Japanese Gardens: Why Go Global?”, explored the international significance of Japanese gardens through conversations and presentations featuring some of the world’s most respected thought leaders in the field.

2 visits from students from Hachinohe, Japan. In May and then again in September, we welcomed students representing different junior highs in the City of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture. These visits came before the Garden celebrates the tenth anniversary of returning torii gate beams from Hachinohe that had landed on the Oregon coast following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

1 history-making moment. In January, Oregon State Representative Mari Watanabe was sworn in to fill a vacant seat for House District 34 at Portland Japanese Garden. Watanabe, who serves on the Garden’s Board of Trustees, is the first Japanese American woman to serve in the Oregon legislature, a body that held its first regular session in 1860.