The Japanese Tea Garden is located next to the MH de Young Museum and across from the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Built for the Japanese Village exhibit in the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, the garden is the oldest public Japanese garden in the nation. It is visited by over 400,000 people every year. 

The garden features beautiful Pagodas, Lily Ponds, The Hagiwara Gate (built with no nails), the Lantern of Peace (a gift from the Japanese government in 1953), a Drum Bridge, and a Zen Garden. Lush landscaping includes beautiful cherry trees, azaleas, Oriental magnolias, camelias, Japanese maples, dwarf pines, cedars and cypresses. Each setting offers a stunning backdrop for photographs. In fact, several of the movie scenes from “Memoirs of a Geisha” were filmed at the Japanese Tea Garden.