Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum

Very beautiful and serene! I visited on March 7th, 2026 when the cherry blossoms were at 20% bloom and it was still stunning. It was very busy on a Saturday, we had to park far away, and the pathways can be narrow, FYI. It was still worth a visit from out of town, the garden is well-maintained and the koi fish are fun to watch.

Lovely gardens, as a resident I visit year around! Beautiful coordinated paths, waterfalls, and streams, that are frequented by humans and local wildlife alike. They even have blooms in the winter! And the cherry blossoms in march/april can’t be missed ❤️🌸. Free resident Tuesdays are especially amazing, it’s the third Tuesday of every month. Last entry is 4 PM, closing at 5 PM (Differs from normal listed hours).

If you want to see what Japan is like, would suggest checking this place out. They have Bonsai Tree from 30 years up to 60 years to be viewed. Great path to walk, use of a mobile scooter can be utilized for majority of the site. Plenty of places to sit and enjoy the water features as well as the flowers. There are plenty of places to sit in solace if needed. There is a store where you may purchase items. Restrooms are available as well. I hope the picture provide an insight of what you may see. Great place to take graduation photos.

A truly relaxing and memorable visit to the Japanese Friendship Garden. The garden is beautifully designed and extremely well maintained, offering a peaceful escape from the busy city atmosphere. The koi ponds, waterfalls, bonsai trees, and traditional Japanese architecture create a calm and authentic environment. Every path feels thoughtfully planned, and there are plenty of scenic spots to stop, reflect, or take photos. It’s a perfect place for a quiet walk, meditation, or simply enjoying nature. I highly recommend this garden to anyone visiting San Diego. 🌸

The Japanese Friendship Garden and Museum is a truly peaceful and beautiful escape from the bustle of the city. From the moment you step inside, the atmosphere feels calm, intentional, and thoughtfully designed. The landscaping is stunning with the serene koi ponds, carefully manicured gardens, gentle waterfalls, and traditional architectural elements that make every corner feel picturesque. One of the highlights is the bonsai collection, which is incredibly impressive. Each tree feels like a living work of art, showcasing years (and in some cases decades) of care, patience, and craftsmanship. The Camellia plants are equally captivating, especially when in bloom. Their vibrant colors add warmth and elegance throughout the garden, and they beautifully complement the tranquil environment. The museum portion adds meaningful context, offering insight into Japanese culture, art, and the friendship between San Diego and its sister city in Japan. It’s educational and enriching without feeling overwhelming. Whether you’re looking for a quiet place to unwind, take photos, or learn something new, this is absolutely worth a visit. A true gem within Balboa Park.

This place is a must visit. Wether you’re a San Diego resident or tourist. It’s a phenomenal garden. Beautiful Japanese inspired landscape with a massive assortment of Japanese plant life. It can be a hours long walk or a 20min walk. All depends on your mood for the day. One that that I can assure you is that every step is a photo op. lol. The landscapers are super nice and informative. The admission is reasonably priced. You can attend on a nice sunny day or a rainy day and it’s still going to be a experience. If you’re ever looking for a small slice of the Japanese life. This is your place. Great for families and friends.

The place felt very peaceful. You didn't hear a lot of outside noise when walking around. The pathways are very international and flowed nicely. A good way to ground yourself in the middle of a big city. The food vendors had good food available.

Worth the entrance price. Many tranquil paths and beautiful landscapes. Highly recommend grabbing a map at the ticket booth to make sure you don’t miss anything! We were here for about an hour but you can stay in the gardens as long as you like! There’s lots to see. The area is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. Weekends and seasonal activities can get crowded but people are respectful and keep moving on the paths for the most part.

I came here on the third Tuesday of the month since they offer free entry for San Diego residents. We came here around the end of January. The trees were just starting to blossom. They have the Cherry Blossom festival in March. It is a small garden, but beautiful. They have food trucks and a gift shop as well. It's a nice spot to walk around and relax.

Today was my first Koto lesson in the Japanese Garden. It was such a pleasure to meet my Sensei Yuki Easter. She gave me so much information regarding history of the music, the story lines and the instruments. She showed me on a table there were finger pics which I have never used when I had played guitar for years as for Spanish classical or Flamenco you just don't use finger pics. These were made out of plastic and you put them on the opposite not facing you on your thumb, index finger and middle finger. If I were a ongoing student Sensei would make my own for me out of lambswool and they would fit perfectly. The lesson paperwork was in Japanese which I will post here. There is so much history how the sound of this music actually came about. In the 1500s. They listen to Nature Sounds and and that's really how it came about. So simple and sweet. There are over 100 octaves which is mind-blowing and the plastic Bridges move around for minor sounds. There are no majors. If you want to know more, go take a lesson LOL. I learned how to play the simple version of Sakura. I loved it! If you enjoy the Japanese culture in March is the Sakura Festival. Oh apologies no sound on the Koto music. Not sure why.

This tranquil garden offers a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle. Starting at the top, you'll embark on a delightful descent, encountering small waterfalls, serene ponds, towering trees, and vibrant blooms. The garden's ADA-friendly design ensures accessibility for all visitors. I found the experience incredibly relaxing, with plenty of inviting benches to rest and soak in the beautiful views. The well-maintained restrooms add to the overall comfort of the visit. If you're seeking a serene experience, I wholeheartedly recommend this hidden gem.

Not worth the now $16 entrance fee as it's quite small & very crowded. Nice to see once. I won't be back. Parking was a nightmare.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is one of the best parts of Balboa Park! This place is absolutely beautiful and worth the cost of entry. These gardens are incredibly well tended. The paths lead you on a peaceful stroll that reveals a new, carefully manicured view at every turn. You are transported to another land that has your wellbeing on its mind. The rest of the park and time disappears as you feel the earthen path at your feet, are soothed by the gurgling of traveling waters, refreshed but the rustling wind in the trees, and settled by the koi lazily and smoothly meandering through the various pools. The buildings house opportunities to learn about Japanese artisan practices and traditions. The Bonsai garden is fascinatingly beautiful. It was our decision to take our time and take in the gardens. Best decision ever.

Beautiful garden and rolls all the way down. With a varied collection of bonsai trees. Learn about there culture as you walk thru the garden with multiple waterfall streams and sculptures and of course the cute mini bridges. Some amazing koi fish just living there best life. Please don't feed. There is a fee to get in but found it worth while. They do provide discounts for military, students and disability. So if ever at Balboa Park pass by and take a peak. We spent like a good 3 hours there just enjoying the beautiful of this peace spot.

A very tranquil and enjoyable experience. From the koi pond to the beautiful streams and amazing scenery. Great family activity!

The Japanese friendship garden was a great experience while in San Diego. It's peaceful and has great views. It has some Japanese exhibits, bonsai trees, koi ponds, and a beautiful bronze kannon statue from the early 1900's. The statue was one of my favorite parts. You can sit in front of it and just listen to the stream run behind you. Very peaceful. It's a great relaxing walk if you want to get away from the busy downtown. There's also a food truck at the top and a gift shop at the bottom with Japanese gifts. Will be sure to visit next time I'm in SD.

Relaxing and beautiful. Grateful for this piece of art and nature available to the public.

The Balboa Park Japanese Friendship Garden is a large green space with a few buildings featuring Japanese history and art. The garden has some flat and hilly places, but there are accessible ramps and low incline trails. There is also plenty of shade which is helpful for hot days. Even food at the tea shop & restaurant just outside the garden was decent! This is a great visit for locals and tourists alike.

Beautiful so far, very small A lot of history which is fun but I feel like they could have done so much more with it. Being in such a beautiful climate there should be more to this garden and I wanted it to be larger with more details. Love the fish and love the water streaming with the cute spots to sit on the bench.

Peaceful and beautiful. If you need a break from the constant noise and tons of people when visiting San Diego this is a great place to check out. It's right in Balboa Park, surrounded by all the museums and different things to do, but offers a much more relaxing feel. Walking through the gardens you are surrounded by different plants and flowers that just instantly relax you. The different buildings in the gardens house some very cool things. Right now they have the Kaga traditional craft exhibit. It's very interesting and beautiful. They also have an assortment of different bonsai trees that are fascinating. They are small and mighty little trees with big history. I really enjoyed my time here. Being able to meander through the gardens and enjoy a little bit of nature and watch the antics of the koi is a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Such a beautiful & peaceful place to explore. Great place to get your steps in $14 for adult admission. $12 for students & seniors. Open daily from 10am to 7pm, last admission is 6pm. Once you pay for your admission, there's a couple show rooms with artifacts and history along the way. It's pretty interesting. There's a gift shop at the bottom of the hill. Gift shop is abit overpriced but fun to look at the pieces they sell. They have restrooms for use.

One of the most beautiful gardens in San Diego located in Balboa Park. Parking is available outside the park and there are shuttles that will take you to the park. Be prepared to walk, wear CU for table shoes. So many spots within the gardens to take beautiful photos. They have a gift shop and places to eat while inside the gardens. Admission is discounted if you are a student.

I absolutely love the vibe. They have free admission for every 3rd Tuesday of the month (but it may be packed). There are multiple vendors from cute Japanese knick knacks to food down in the lower Pavillion, and a gift shop, etc. There is an upper a d lower garden, both sporting a pond with many fat and happy koi, which you're not allowed to touch or feed (duh, be respectful). The upper garden has a bonsai walk near the restrooms, but be prepared to wait in line as there are only two all-gender restrooms. The lower garden is much much larger and has a nice ADA trail walkway that is wide enough to fit a stroller and wheelchair side by side. Normally, there are at least a few food booths (especially on SD resident free Tuesday), and there are more restrooms with places to sit and eat and enjoy the view. The sheer volume of plants aids the walk from getting too hot during summer, but I'd still definitely wear sunscreen. In the springtime, I'd very much recommend visiting during the Japanese Cherry Blossom festival! Don't forget to wear your jinbeis or yukatas to keep with authenticity.

The garden was divided into a top and bottom part which gave off different vibes. The top had a bonsai garden, teahouse, and a little pond. It seemed more condensed and more like what I'm used to seeing at a Japanese garden. The bottom was much larger and spread out through paths to a pavilion which they used for events or activities, and two snack shops. It seemed like this is a popular place to rent out for private events. I thought there was a lot of walking to the lower level, it wasn't a big deal but keep in mind if going with someone that has trouble walking far. A couple things unique to this particular Japanese garden was the abundance plants not normally found like star jasmine, and honeysuckle. I've never seen that at a Japanese garden, it felt very SoCal. I also liked how planes were often landing in the background. That might break someone's sense of serenity, but I thought it was a unique addition. I just went for the Japanese garden but there was so much more at Balboa Park, I had no idea. You could spend most of the day here. For a list of other Japanese gardens around check out my list: https://bit.ly/3CLXWV9

Peaceful and serene... an awsome experience! This maze of a garden will soothe your soul. Lots of great scenery... from the koi pond with colorful fishes, bridges, statues, bonsai trees, gardens, flowers, etc... The Museum underwhelmed I felt, but the Garden was beautiful. If you find a spot on the grass to sit on and take in the beauty, don't worry, you are allowed to. You can sit and view the pond or people watch... this garden is your oyster. FYI: If you are a San Diego resident I believe it's free admission, otherwise if you're an outsider then it's $14 to get in.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is a beautiful garden in San Diego's Balboa Park, located 2 hours or so from LA. It has free parking with plenty of parking spaces. We parked in the handicap space which was close. There's a couple koi ponds with a small waterfall, lots of different trees, plants, flowers, and an upper and lower level. We came for the Cherry Blossom festival which was $14 which is the normal price as well. There was only a 7% bloom of the cherry blossoms but we were still able to see a good amount of them and they were beautiful. The festival had a variety of food booths, music and an activity area. My only con about the garden is the pathways. We had my sister in law with us who is special needs and we took her wheelchair. The roads going into the lower garden area were not very ADA accessible at all. The paths were quite narrow and almost on a gravel like path. It was tight at times going up and down and few times the wheelchair got stuck. We didn't stay to long in the gardens and it was mostly due to that fact. But they are beautiful and I hope to be back soon when I'm in the San Diego area.

2 stars - "Could've been better" for sure. It's definitely not worth $16 to enter. It should be more around $5 or less. Student/Senior (65+)/Military is $14. Kids ages 6 and under are free. Daily 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Last admission 5:00 PM I've been to the Japanese Garden in San Francisco (really small) and Huntington Library in Pasadena; while, this San Diego garden is bigger, there's really not much to see. Other than the Koi pond/fishes, it's very underwhelming. Honestly, I was disappointed. The trees/bamboos at San Diego Zoo felt way more impressive than here. The paths are very narrow and a bit confusing as well. Overall, there wasn't much to see or have a real zen feeling. Maybe the highlight of the day here was seeing a random tuxedo cat just chilling at one of the paths. If you're visiting San Diego, you can honestly save your money and skip this place.

Very beautiful, well-maintained, with nice walking paths. Be warned that on the San Diego resident free day, it gets extremely busy! I like getting an iced tea from their teahouse, but their food options aren't that great.

FINALLY attended the Cherry Blossom Festival (always manage to forget until it's too late). I arrived at noon and it took 30 minutes to get inside from when I got into the line. People who managed to buy tickets online were able to skip the line altogether. They stop selling online tickets at 5 p.m. the day before the festival begins. Bloom is currently only at 7%, which equated to a small handful of trees with color. No petals floating on the wind or on the ground, but the garden is always worth a visit and the performances are worth entry. Food smelled good but the lines were LONG, so we did a sake tasting ($20) instead. I haven't been to the Japanese Friendship Garden in a long time and I was reminded how beautiful and calming it is. I'll go back later this month to see the blossoms in full bloom for sure and enjoy the garden without the crowds.

A super pleasant experience. Everything was well maintained. The layout of the garden was also well thought out, making the whole walk really easy and enjoyable

I have always loved Japanese culture. However, I have yet to visit Japan. Two trips planned, but both cancelled due to unusual circumstances. So, while waiting to try again, I am fortunate to have the Japanese Friendship Garden close to home. I recently attended Wellness Day at the gardens. It is scheduled one Tuesday per month and offers relaxing and healing activities such as; making a stress ball, participating in yoga and receiving a reiki session. The garden and museum are free to walk on this day as well. I highly recommend you visit if you have never been, as it is truly a gem in San Diego. They have programs and events regularly and a special gift shop to purchase authentic Japanese wares. I always stop for tea at the pavilion after touring. It is the best way to end the day. #JapaneseFriendshipGarden #SanDiego #TeaPavilion #WellnessDay

The Cherry Blossom festival is in progress now. Spent a delightful morning exploring the Japanese Friendship museum last week. The cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom (they were only 7%) when we attended so I'm sure there will be a lot more this coming week. Even though there were just starting to bloom the beautiful gardens were a delight. They had special food booths and a number of merchants with some really cool stuff. It's worth checking out!

The Friendship garden was a lovely space in Balboa park. Everything was well maintained and reminded me of the gardens in Japan. There were plenty of flowers, waterfalls and a beautiful koi pond while walking on the path. The path to the bottom had many steps and on an incline so may not be suitable for seniors that have issues walking. When you get to the bottom, there was a small exhibit next to the gift shop that showed Japanese traditions and Japanese food. Restrooms are plentiful throughout the garden. Parking is free and plentiful if you're willing to walk. There is a lot right across the street but can fill up easily on weekends. Adult tickets are $14 but if you go the month of February, it is half off.

Beautiful views and luscious greenery surrounding the garden. There are many photo opportunities to enjoy with friends or loved ones. There is interesting history behind the creation of this lovely place. They had a huge Buddha and people left money in his hands. Lots of zen moments to relish here.

This place is so pretty and definitely worth visiting. If you can't visit Japan during the Cherry Blossom season (Somewhere between March and April), this place is probably one of the places to go if you live in Southern California. Or if you are into Japanese culture this is also a good place to visit and also to relax and take photos. It costs $14 for each person or $12 if you are a student.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is such a gorgeous place to go for a stroll, meet up with friends, do yoga, or otherwise enjoy nature. There are a handful of well kept koi fish, bonsai tree areas, and well cared for plants of various varieties. It's such a hidden gem in San Diego/Balboa Park, I love visiting. They also have a tea shop attached to it. I highly recommend visiting!

Absolutely beautiful! The flowers and planes smell so sweet. The trail is tranquil. We really enjoyed our time here. Best to go early before it gets too hot. Take an umbrella

We stopped by here while in Balboa park. The admission is $14 for adults and $12 for students. The place seems somewhat newish with 2 small buildings, walking paths, and hardscaping with waterfalls and koi ponds. The round trip walking path starts on top of a hill and goes to the bottom to come back up where you start. Overall a nice garden but not sure it was worth price of admission

The Japanese Friendship Garden is a wonderful stop within Balboa Park. It's a peaceful, serene area that has walking paths, waterfalls, ponds, koi fish, bonsai trees, and cherry blossom trees that you can see when in bloom. There is a small gift shop near and plenty of chairs to relax and enjoy the scenic view. I highly recommend visiting if you're never been.

This costs $14 to enter. Honestly not worth the $14 unfortunately. Once we got inside it said 35% bloom which is disappointing to see. Obviously it's a business, I know they're not going to have that sign on the outside but we knew we weren't going to see much. The gardens were beautiful but very little bloom. Was able to take pictures of what we did see. They had some food trucks at the bottom which was a nice treat. They should have some signage once inside on how to exit though because that was kind of confusing and we kept hitting dead ends.

This place is nice! It's small but was lovely to visit while on vacation. It's clearly well maintained and visitors also do a good job following the rules and not trashing the garden. If you just stroll through at a casual pace, you can be done within half an hour. While I would recommend stopping by, I also want to let other service dog handlers know that staff sadly needs to be familiarized with ADA laws. The girl at the front asked me to provide "papers" (not required in any form) but could not tell me what papers it was that she wanted to see. I do carry a copy of my medical record but I don't like showing it to people because it says my diagnosis (unless at an airport, medical facility, etc). She really wanted to see something, so I gave her a copy of the law from the ADA website with the relevant parts highlighted. She gave me a weird look, didn't read any of it, gave it back to me and then just let us go. I am thankful that I was allowed in, but it was an uncomfortable experience with a queue behind me. I'd like to remind the staff here that service dogs come in all breeds and sizes, and that handlers are not always visibly disabled.

I had a nice experience at the garden but I'm not sure I would visit when it wasn't cherry blossom time. I really didn't feel there was a lot to see except for the blossoms. There was a nice koi pond, a few statues and some cool bonsai, one being 100 years old. I really feel the blossoms make this place.

Admission is $14 for an adult. Located in that Balboa Park area. I recommend going here on a weekday, that way it's easier to find parking and less people. Plan to spend an hour if you're taking your time or less. We spent an hour walking around and taking lots of pictures. I would only come here if you are already in the area. Place was clean and well maintained. They do have koi pond.

We had such a good time visiting here! It's a lot bigger than we expected. It's so beautiful, I wanted to take photos of everything.

I came across an IG post about a cherry blossom festival held here and I had never been to Balboa Park in San Diego before. It was on the weekend of my birthday so it was a great opportunity to check it out. I bought tickets online and it was a seamless transaction which was valid on any of the 3 days the festival was being held. I was anticipating rain since it had been a gloomy week but luckily it had stopped by the time I arrived there! I also recalled the website stating the blossoms had 5% bloomed so I hoped they were in full bloom. To my delight they were all blooming and screamed "SPRING IS HERE"! The pathways are narrow so it was challenging to get around large crowds when everyone was trying to get a photo op with the cherry blossoms. I was more there for the garden and wasn't impressed with the food/merch vendors so I suggest coming on a weekday when it's less congested. Otherwise, it's beautiful anywhere you turn and the koi pond was a nice touch to the Japanese aesthetic. I'm happy I got to experience it nonetheless.

We had an afternoon free and decided to visit the Japanese Friendship Garden. Since it was during cherry blossom season, we were unable to buy tickets online and got them on the spot. This was a problem - and I loved that their website told you exactly how peak the bloom was. Unfortunately, they were only at 7% bloom, but we got to see one or two trees and walk around the beautiful gardens. They also had little stalls selling all sorts of goodies - one of which was a matcha shop my sister had wanted me to get her something from, so it felt like fate! The Gardens are beautiful and a great way to spend an afternoon outdoors.

Incredibly underwhelming and lame garden. Do not recommend anyone to waste their time here especially if it's their first time visiting SD.

We were super excited to visit this Japanese Garden but were kind of let down by the experience. The garden was much smaller than we expected, and while the different gardens were pretty, I think we were expecting more based on other Japanese gardens we had been to in the past. Definitely underwhelming. There was construction going on while we were there that limited some of our access to areas, and we wanted to stop at their Tea Pavilion when we were done but they weren't open despite the hours on their sign (as well as online) saying that they were supposed to be open. So that was a little disappointing as well. We went right before the cherry blossoms, so I imagine it would've been better if we had made it during that time, however, the cherry blossoms are not out most of the year. Parking isn't too bad, you'll just have to park a little bit away as Balboa Park is pretty large.

It's always a refreshing, zen like atmosphere in the garden. It's nice to see that they have opened up some new areas that they were previously constructing. Camelias are in bloom. Btw, this garden is part of the Horticulture network of botanic gardens that you can get in for free if you have membership to one of them. IG: @grace.loves.adventures

Beautiful garden and waterfalls. Kids enjoyed exploring and getting ice cream at the ice cream truck inside. If you want to get a sense of the size of the garden, take a peek over the ledge next to the tea house.

Quaint garden . . . the path leads down to the bottom where there is a small body of water surrounded by cherry blossoms. Attempt to go during the spring when they are in bloom. There is a zen garden at the top along with a bonsai garden. Opposing end of the cherry blossoms is a building that has merch. Great place to sit back and meditate!

I loooove cherry blossoms! I went to Japan in 2018 just to see them. I came here to get a little nostalgic and just take in their beauty. The trees were all in bloom so the experience was wonderful. The garden is a bit too small but it was still great to walk around and see the trees and the price to get in is not expensive. I recommend it and make sure you go when the trees are in bloom .

Accessibility: this place isn't as accessible as it seems or they claim. The pathways to get everywhere are extremely narrow, not at all wide enough for wheelchairs and people walking at the same time to pass each other, and very little room for wheelchairs to go around corners on the paths (which are made of tightly packed dirt and rocks, by the way). Experience: Honestly, this place was underwhelming. Much smaller than I thought it would be, not pretty any season other than spring, and there was no educational information anywhere...I was hoping to learn a lot more about Japanese culture and all I did was see plants not in bloom, rocks, a few beautiful sculptures, and grass. I also expected all the plants here to be from Japan, or at least most of them, and this was not the case. Maybe if I came during spring I would enjoy it more, but it was overcrowded in February, so I cannot even imagine how bad it gets in Springtime.

This review is for the weekend of March 25-26, 2023. The Cherry Blossom Festival was 2 weeks ago, but I did not come because I had read reviews that the line was super long during the festival weekend. I scoured the internet to see if the cherry blossoms were still in bloom 2 weeks later (The Japanese Garden website had stopped tracking the percentage of blooms), but could not verify anything. So future cherry blossom seekers who are viewing my review, check out my photos for the amount of blossoms available at this time! There are areas in which you can definitely see and smell the cherry blossom trees; also many areas where I think the blossoms all fell off. There is definitely other photo-worthy flora though. Parking: There is a parking lot off President's Way that advertised availability of a shuttle. I thought, why would anyone park down here and wait for a shuttle when there are plenty of open lots inside? I parked in the lot that is closest to the Garden. When I was trying to leave though, it was SO HARD to get out of the parking lot because three different lanes are trying to leave while cars are trying to come in. So if I were to come to Balboa park again, I would park in one of the farther, less popular, parking lots. And I suppose if I wanted the novelty of riding the train/shuttle, I can park at the lot just outside the entrance. $14 for two adults ($12 is for students/military/senior). The Garden opens at $10AM. We bought tickets online. I arrived around 1030AM and the line was long, but moved fairly quickly. I quickly showed my emailed ticket bar codes to the gatekeeper and entered after a few seconds of scanning.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is located inside Balboa park. It requires special admission.General admission $14 per adult. The Garden doesn't allow food, but you can bring water bottle with you. They have also a couple of food trucks inside and a restaurant just outside the garden in case if you feel hungry. This garden is a nice place to exercise but also to enjoy nature and have tranquility. There are many water falls across the garden as well as multiple ponds. The sound of waterfall  with the green nature around you and the smell of flowers, in addition to the numerous beautiful Koi in every ponds are a great source of joy and tranquility which you will experience throughout the time you will spend in the garden. The paths are mostly paved and there are routes that are handicap-accessible There are many seating available across the garden if you want to relax or meditate. The Garden is a nice place for weddings or for different events.  So, it is better to call in advance if you are planning to visit the garden to see if it is reserved for certain event

Always a fan of exploring new places and supporting the community. Balboa Park is amazing and beautiful and this garden is at the heart of the location. As mentioned by others it is a nice place but the $ price is a little much for how small the actual area is. The upper level could use a lot of work while the lower level where there is the pond and water features is pretty. The shop was closed but the bathrooms were clean. I would NOT go again, but it was a nice little walk.

San Diego and Yokohama, Japan have been first sister cities to each other since 1957.  The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park is an extension of the cultural exchange between the two cities as well as referencing the Japanese Tea House & Garden built for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915.  "After the Exposition, the city of San Diego no longer wanted responsibility of maintaining the Tea House & Garden so the Asakawa family was hired from 1914-1941."  The Asakawa's were accused of no crime, unconstitutionally encarcerated and sent to U.S. concentration camp in 1942 due to World War II "hysteria" with Japan. Consequently, the tea house & garden were destroyed. The Japanese  Friendship Garden is named 三渓園 San-Kei-En in Japanese which means "three valley garden" in Japanese. It is named after the three scenic landscapes celebrated in Japanese culture: water, pastoral and mountain.  There is the original San Kei En in Yokohama. The San Diego version is a hybrid of Japanese and local Socal drought adapted plants in a small valley so the garden paths meander in a slow decline going in.  Once past the pay entrance, flat path is flanked by lush plants similar to Japanese water loving plants leading to a small pavilion similar to a "tea house" displaying Japanese objets d'art with wonderful picture windows framing a classic Karesansui Zen Buddhist garden using strategically placed rocks, gravel, sand for contemplation.  There are Water features; fierce statue of Kongō Rikishi, Guardian of the Buddha; small Koi pond; exquisite Bonsai miniature trees Japanese & Californian Mediterranean climate plants surrounding this small pavilion.  Walk farther and there is a formal gate where the meandering declining path with plantings more appropriate for our dry Mediterranean climate show different natural landscapes to please the eye.  Looking down into the valley;  walking on bridges over dry & wet stream beds; encountering the statue of Kannon, Goddess of Mercy, who originally was  Avalokiteśvara in Indian Sanskrit.  He is a Bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. As his fame spread along with Buddhism, he became figuratively Trans female in various cultures. Nothing is new under the sun when it comes to human behavior.  At that bottom of the valley, there is a large pavilion with a gift shop surrounded by a large Koi pond witH Koi of unusual color and fins, and a vast garden. After this, you climb back up to conclude the visit to the Japanese garden.  The whole garden is meant to be taken in leisurely w/ contemplation and appreciation of growing things. Give at least an hour to mindfulness. Because of non-Japanese, drought resistant plantings, don't expect a "pure Japanese garden" experience. I appreciate the garden designers who had the foresight to anticipate climate change years ago.    4 stars