JACCC Garden to be Restored
By GWEN MURANAKA
RAFU ENGLISH EDITORIN CHIEF
Saturday, July 14, 2007

Little Tokyo garden to be closed as it undergoes renovation.

GWEN MURANAKA/Rafu Shimpo
From left, Arthur Granados, William Cubias, Kinya Hirai, Haruo Yamashiro, Shinkichi Koyama, Chris Aihara, Takeo Uesugi and Glenn Koyama are the team that will be reconstructing the James Irvine Japanese Garden at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo. Work on the garden is scheduled to be completed by early 2008.

The grass has turned brown and the stream is dry in the Japanese garden at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo. For now, the downtown oasis is closed as it under­goes a much-needed restoration and renovation.

Takeo Uesugi, who designed the James Irvine Japanese Garden, leads the team that will work on the restoration.

“The plan is to make the garden more usable and provide space for oc­casional weddings, flower arrangement and tea ceremony. It will be a garden that visitors can sit down and enjoy,” Uesugi said.

Many of the original gardeners and landscapers who worked on the project have returned to restore the garden’s former glory. They gathered on July 12 to discuss their plans for the 8,500-square-foot garden that was dedicated in 1980 as a tribute to the spirit of the Issei generation. Others on the team include Shinkichi Koyama, president of the Southern California Gardeners Federation; William Cubias, masonry contractor; Arthur Granados, JACCC facilities engineer, and landscape con­tractors Kinya Hira, Haruo Yamashiro and Glenn Koyama.

Chris Aihara, JACCC executive director, said that the renovations will be completed by the end of this year or the beginning of 2008. The total budget is $250,000, funded through the California State Department of Parks and Recreation under Proposition 40, as well as donations from the private sector. It is the first phase of a planned upgrade of the garden.

“We’re looking to create a centerpiece for the JACCC,” Aihara remarked.

Called the Seiryu-en, or garden of the clear stream, the garden received the National Landscape Award from the American Association of Nursery­men during a White House ceremony in 1981. But lack of funding and system degradation have taken their toll on the facility.

Uesugi, a professor emeritus in landscape architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, said the renovated garden will be a poetic space with themes based on the Manyoshu, the collection of Japanese poetry dating back to the eighth century.

He explained that his vision for the site includes planting seasonal flowers, a red maple tree and a Japanese persimmon fruit tree. The waterfall will be restored and the three bridges currently circling the triangular space will be rebuilt.

“A Japanese garden is green. Cali­fornia has four seasons, but they are not too different. We’re going to put a little bit of California style into the garden,” Uesugi said.

At the front of the garden a patio will be built and the sloping grassy hill will be flattened to create an area where performances can be staged. Uesugi also stated that the water system is being redesigned to incorporate a low water-use ir­rigation system. The restored gar­den will be more eco-friendly with photovoltaic pan­els to harvest solar energy.

Work began on the garden three weeks ago and soon masonry contrac­tors will come in to begin removing dirt and other elements. For the time being, the garden will not be much to look at, but Uesugi and his team promised the wait will be worth it.

“There will be fragrance and the sounds of water, so even people who can’t see will be able to experience it,” Uesugi said.