Best Japanese Landmarks to Visit in the United States

Where to Find Japanese Landmarks

Japanese Things to See in United States

1st Street - 13 of the Oldest Buildings since 1890's

Thirteen buildings on First Street were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as a national landmark, this is significant in Japanese-American history.

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  Anderson Japanese Gardens (12-Acre Japanese Garden)

  The Anderson Japanese Gardens is a 12-acre Japanese garden located in Rockford, Illinois..  Construction of Anderson Japanese Gardens began in 1978, when Rockford businessman John Anderson was ins...
  

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  Bainbridge Island Historical Museum

  The Bainbridge Island Historical Museum and the award-winning exhibit “Kodomo No Tame Ni-For the Sake of the Children.” It covers a century of history of pioneering Japanese immigrants and Japa...
  

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  Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial

  The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community (BIJAC) honors the heritage of the Issei (first generation Japanese) who came to the United States, and particularly to Bainbridge Island, to make ...
  

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  Byodo-In Temple - Oahu

  The Byodo-In Temple is located at the foot of the Ko'olau Mountains in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It was established on June 7, 1968, to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first ...
  

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  California Scenario - Artist Isamu Noguchi

  Discover Isamu Noguchi's Clifornia Scenario
  Commissioned by the Segerstrom family in 1979 and completed in 1982, Isamu Noguchi’s California Scenario is recognized as one of ...
  

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  Chicago Botanic - Elizabeth Hubert Malott Japanese Garden

  At times 'when the gold ginkgo trees glow in the autumn light, for instance 'it’s easy to overlook the ways in which the Japanese respect for nature and age are revealed in the Elizabeth Hubert M...
  

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  Fort Worth Botanic Japanese Garden

  The Fort Worth Japanese Garden was completed in 1973. It is a traditional stroll garden with winding paths through the landscapes and around ponds.  The Garden consists of 7.5 acres filled with ch...
  

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  Frederik Meijer Gardens - Japanese Garden

  It was more than four years in the making: June 13, 2015 the Richard and Helen DeVos Japanese Garden opened its magnificent Main Gate to visitors, welcoming a world of timeless tranquility.  Tranq...
  

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  Go For Broke Monument (Next Door to MOCA-Museum of Contemporary Art)

  The fateful bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941 forever changed the lives of Japanese Americans.
  
  Japanese American soldiers in Hawaii, without forewarning, were segregate...
  

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  Go For Broke National Education Center

  In 1986 World War II Japanese American veterans decided to create an organization committed to telling their story. A story shaped by the Nisei’s character, that of courage, honor, determination,...
  

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  Hakone Gardens

  Hakone Gardens is one of the oldest Japanese estate and gardens in the Western Hemisphere. The gardens were originally the private estate of Isabel and Oliver Stine, San Francisco ...
  

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  Heart Mountain Interpretive Center

  Heart Mountain is located 14 miles east of Cody, Wyoming. Take Hwy 14A to Road 19. A small road sign marks the turn. Look for tall red chimney to the north.
  
  In August of 2011, the Heart ...
  

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  Historic Japanese Cemetery - 1908

  This is a Historic Japanese Cemetery in Oxnard is Ventura County Historical Landmark No. 18.

  The Japanese Americans of Oxnard first created this cemetery in approx 1908. 

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  Huntington Library (Japanese Garden)

  After a year-long closure and a $6.8 million renovation, the historic Japanese Garden reopened in April, marking its centennial as one of the most beloved and iconic landscapes at The Huntington. C...
  

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  Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii (Est. 1906)

  Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii, Established in 1906.  The Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii (also known as “Hawaii Izumo Taisha”) is a branch of Izumo Taisha Grand Shinto Shrine (Izumo Oya...
  

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  Japan House - Los Angeles

  JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles is located on the second and fifth floors of the popular Hollywood & Highland Center, a shopping and entertainment complex home to the Dolby Theatre, the world-famous ve...
  

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  Japan House, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  It is the mission of Japan House to bring about cultural understanding, to offer exposure to new perspectives and, ultimately, to give a necessary refuge for all to embrace tranquility in an immers...
  

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  Japan Society

  Japan Society is the leading U.S. organization committed to deepening mutual understanding between the United States and Japan in a global context. Now in its second century, the Society serves aud...
  

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  Japanese American Historical Plaza

  Relief columns grace the formal entrance of this solemn site located at the south end of the Japanese Memorial at Waterfront Park. Haiku-engraved broken stones and 100 cherry trees line the walk. T...
  

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  Japanese American Historical Plaza - Bill of Rights Memorial

  Japanese American Historical Plaza is located here. See the Japanese memorial plaques, 
  
  Dedicated on August 3, 1990, the Japanese American Historical Plaza and Bill of...
  

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  Japanese American Museum of San Jose

  The Japanese American Museum of San Jose showcases a unique collection of permanent and rotating exhibits chronicling more than a century of Japanese American history. Visitors will learn about ear...
  

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  Japanese American National Museum (janm.org)

  We share the story of Japanese Americans because we honor our nations diversity. We believe in the importance of remembering our history to better guard against the prejudice that threatens liberty...
  

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  Japanese Tea Garden - San Francisco

  The Japanese Tea Garden provides visitors from around the world with an opportunity to experience the natural beauty, tranquility and harmony of a Japanese-style garden in the heart of San Francisc...
  

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  Jerome War Relocation Center

  The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas near the town of Jerome. Open from October 1942 until June 1944,[1] it was the last relocat...
  

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  Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

  The Japanese Pavilion The Pavilion
  The Pavilion for Japanese Art is unique in America as a separate building dedicated to the display of Japanese Art within the complex of a l...
  

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  Maneki Japanese Restaurant

  Maneki Restaurant is traditional Japanese cuisine located in the International District in Seattle, Washington. Established in 1904, the first sushi bar, tatami rooms (private matted rooms) and kar...
  

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  Manzanar National Historic Site

  In 1942, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 men, women, and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style camps. Manzanar War Relocation Center was o...
  

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  Minidoka War Relocation Center

  Minidoka National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the western United States. It commemorates the more than 9,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Minidoka War Relocation C...
  

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  Missouri Botanical Garden - Japanese Garden

  The Japanese Garden, dedicated in 1977, was designed by the late Professor Koichi Kawana, a native of Japan and lecturer on environmental design and landscape architecture at the University of Cali...
  

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  Morakami Museum and Japanese Gardens, Florida

  Since its opening in 1977, The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens has been a center for Japanese arts and culture in South Florida, with rotating exhibitions in its galleries, tea ceremonies perf...
  

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  Mukai Farm and Garden (Est. 1930s)

  The Mukai Farm & Garden celebrates Vashon’s Japanese American and agricultural heritage. With its historic Craftsman house, Japanese Gardens, acreage, and strawberry processing plant, Mukai i...
  

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  National Japanese American Memorial

  The National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II is located at the intersection of New Jersey Avenue, Louisiana Avenue, and D Street in Washington, D.C. The closest Metrora...
  

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  National Japanese American Veterans Memorial Court

  National Japanese American Veterans Memorial Court (JACCC)
  Facing San Pedro Street, in front the of the JACCC is the Memorial Court. It was ...
  

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  New York Botanical Garden (Brooklyn Botanic Garden) Cherry Blossom Trees, Garden

  Enhance your day in Brooklyn by visiting our neighbor, the Brooklyn Museum! Simply buy an Art and Garden ticket here at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and present your receipt for same-day admission to th...
  

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  Panama Hotel Tea & Coffee House (Historic built in 1910)

  The Historic Panama Hotel built in 1910 by Sabro Ozasa, a Japanese Architect and graduate of the University of Washington. Through the years it has served as a home for generations of Japanese immi...
  

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  Portland Japanese Garden

  The mission of the Japanese Garden Society of Oregon is to create, maintain, improve, and administer an authentic, world-class Japanese garden in the city of Portland and to offer compatible educat...
  

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  San Francisco - Japantown (Peace Plaza)

  Japantown (Nihonmachi) (also known as J-Town or historically as Japanese Town, or 'Nihonmachi' ('Japan town', in Japanese)) is a neighborhood in the Western Addition district of San Francisco, Cali...
  

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  San Mateo Central Park - Japanese Gardens

  The Japanese Tea Garden was designed by Nagao Sakurai and was installed in 1966. Plants featured in the garden include cherry trees, Japanese maples and bonsai. San Mateo set up a sister-city relat...
  

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  Seattle Japanese Garden - Washington Park Arboretum

  The Japanese Garden is a 3.5-acre traditional Japanese stroll garden located within the Washington Park Arboretum. The idea for a Japanese Garden in Seattle had formed by 1909 but it wasn’t until...
  

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  Shofuso Japanese House and Garden

  This shoin-zukuri (desk-centered) house, built in 17th century style, is located on the grounds of the Horticultural Center in the West Fairmount Park. The perfectly pro...
  

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  Terminal Island Memorial Monument

  San Pedro has a memorial that is overlooked in many of the tourist guides. It is a Memorial to the Japanese Fishing Village on Terminal Island.

  In 1941, 3,000 first and second-generation Japa...
  

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  The Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum - Samurai Collection

  The Samurai Collection is Dallas, Texas, was created in 2012 to house the Japanese Armor of Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller.  Their ever-expanding collection is comprised of almost 1,000 objects, ...
  

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  The Japanese Garden at Pocantico - Kykuit Japanese Garden

  This Japanese garden is at the country home of John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) which was built just north of Tarrytown in an area known as Pocantico (the word the Rockefellers used when referring...
  

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  The Japanese Peace Bell - North of the Secretariat Building at United Nations Headquarters

  The Japanese Peace Bell, located in the area north of the Secretariat Building at United Nations Headquarters.
  
  The Peace Bell was donated by the United Nations Association of Japan in J...
  

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  The LAX Gateway Pylons - Ted Tokio Tanaka Architects

  The LAX gateway pylons, installed in 2000, were designed by the Los Angeles based team of Ted Tokio Tanaka Architects, Paul Tzanetopoulos, and Moody Ravitz Hollingsworth Lighting Design (the latter...
  

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  The Noguchi Museum

  reated by Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), The Noguchi Museum opened in 1985, presenting a comprehensive collection of the artist's works in stone, metal, wood, and clay, as wel...
  

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  Wakamatsu Tea & Silk Farm Colony

  At the Farm Wakamatsu Farm is a community place to appreciate natural resources, sustainable agriculture,and cultural history.
  
  Visitors of all ages enjoy fun, educational, and enriching ...
  

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  Walerga Park

  Walerga Park is a California Historical Landmark.  Historic Site: Granite monument plaque marking the spot with cherry trees.  Japanese Americans who were held at the Walerga Assembly Center duri...
  

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  Washington Monument Grounds

  The Washington Monument is the most prominent structure in Washington, D.C. and one of the city's early attractions. It was built in honor of George Washington, who led the country to independence ...
  

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  Yokohama Friendship Bell, San Diego - Japanese Friendship Bell on Shelter Island

  The citizens of Yokohama, Japan presented the Friendship Bell to San Diego in May 1958 as part of the Centennial Celebration of formal relations between that country and the United States. It also ...