Japanese Garden, Tacoma

The Japanese Garden is a quiet historic landscape within Point Defiance Park, centred on the 1914 Pagoda. Originally built as the Point Defiance Park Unloading Station, it served streetcar visitors until April 1938, then functioned as a bus station until 1962. Long known locally as “the Pagoda” because of its roofline, the name was officially adopted in 1960.

The Pagoda blends Japanese-inspired exterior details with American Arts and Crafts interiors. Its hip-and-gable roof has flared corners and decorative gable elements, while the interior included woodwork and a large tiled fireplace. When it opened on June 14, 1914, it was unusually refined for a transit building, with marble finishes and staffed amenities in the women’s restroom.

The surrounding garden combines plants, water, stone, and symbolic features, including azaleas, rhododendrons, cherry trees, pines, lanterns, a footbridge, and a waterfall. Its cultural ties deepened in 1961, when Kokura, now Kitakyushu, gave the park a Shinto shrine and Torii gate in exchange for a Pacific Northwest totem pole. After a 2011 arson fire, the Pagoda was carefully restored, with more than 7,000 original roof tiles cleaned and re-laid.