I usually get my work done during the evening and night, but sometimes, there are some unavoidable midday meetings I have to attend that overlap with when I usually go out to be a tourist. When that happens, I still try to squeeze in a quick activity afterwards, which was the case for when I went to the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix on a work day shortly before sunset.

As you can probably guess from the name, the Japanese Friendship Garden is a curated outdoor garden themed around elements traditional to Japanese culture. It’s located on the northern side of downtown Phoenix—situated north of the Portland Parkway Park, just south of Margaret T. Hance Park, and above Interstate 10.

I’ve been to a lot of amazing botanical gardens before, so I don’t know if my perception is a bit skewed at this point because of that, but I thought the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix was a bit underwhelming. It was definitely a nice garden, but it felt small, and it had some areas that appeared to not be fully maintained and manicured. I think a notable element of this Garden is the fact that it is basically an oasis in the middle of Phoenix, a city surrounded by the Sonoran Desert, and because it serves as a reprieve from the otherwise bustling downtown area.

Here are some photographs I captured:

There was a building in the eastern rear section of the Garden that was gated off. My guess is that the tea tours take place in that building, but that is a separate scheduled event, so I was only able to take a look at the exterior.

The building containing the bathrooms was also themed accordingly, both in architecture as well as the decorations adorning and surrounding it.

Near the gift shop, there was a small collection of bonsai trees.

This is the entrance to the Garden. It is gated off in the photograph because I was there right up until closing time.

After you purchase admission, the staff gives you a bright neon sticker to wear on your shirt to indicate that you are a paid visitor. I deposited mine into the trash can on my way out of the building, but apparently some people decided to use theirs to decorate the bike rack in the parking lot instead.

The Garden had some interesting rules. There is a wide open grassy field near the pond, but apparently the grass is off limits; I was sitting on the grass while I was responding to some time-sensitive messages on my phone so that I would be out of the way of the pedestrian footpath, but a staff member promptly approached me saying that I was not permitted to be on the grass. There were also some stepping stones installed alongside a concrete path that I used to get a better angle for some photographs, but I was once again approached by a staff member to be informed that I was not allowed to step on the stepping stones.

Otherwise, checking out the Garden was a nice way to go for a walk and get some fresh air. My general admission ticket was US$14.00, and I spent about an hour and a half there (though if you only want to do one loop around the path, you could potentially be able to see everything in about half an hour).