Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego Is a Tribute to Traditional Culture

The garden is located in Balboa Park, which includes elements of many different countries, ethnicities, and cultures around the world.

Guests of the Tanabata Festival at the Balboa Park Japanese Friendship Garden wear traditional Japanese kimono dresses in San Diego, Calif., on July 7, 2023. Julianne Foster/The Epoch Times

In San Diego, there is a place where you can be transported to exciting spots all over the world without ever leaving Southern California.

In 1915, a beautiful preserve of lush land was transformed into a corner of Spain with the construction of ornate Spanish Colonial Revival buildings for the Panama-California Exposition. The buildings of this expo and the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition have been preserved all these years as Balboa Park, a haven in the middle of downtown San Diego for nature, arts, and culture.