“The original Japanese tea house in Balboa Park … was built for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915…  [when] the city couldn’t maintain the operation after the exposition, a Japanese couple, Hachisaku and Osamu Asakawa, managed it until 1941. When the U.S. entered World War II that year, the Asakawas, along with other Japanese-Americans were interned during the war...  Left to deteriorate, the teahouse was finally razed in 1955…“ (Source: Priscilla Lister)

It wasn’t until 1990 that the Japanese garden was re-established in Balbao Park. 

Today 100,000 people visit this 2-acre garden each year.  It is so popular that an additional 9 acre expansion is set to open in 2015.  A must-see during any visit to San Diego.