Japanese Tea Garden
Establishment of the Japanese Tea Garden at Napa Valley College
In 1973, the Mayors of Napa, California and Iwanuma, Japan signed a document that officially linked the two cities in a bond of friendship. in 1981, funding for the Japanese Tea Garden was gifted to Napa by the sister city of Iwanuma, Japan. The Napa-Iwanuma Sister City committee determined that the garden would be installed on the campus of Napa Valley College, and the garden was completed in 1982. As noted in the Napa Valley Register (6/19/81), "the whole intent of the garden is to cleanse the spirit of worldly stain and to enter the teahouse (which would be the college) in a spirit of true friendship." The Japanese Tea Garden was therefore located at the formal entrance to the campus, next to the flagpoles.
Japanese Tea Garden Rededication Event
On Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, Napa Valley College was delighted to welcome students, staff, faculty, and community members, and dignitaries to Napa Valley College for the rededication of the Japanese Tea Garden. Funds to establish the garden were a gift to Napa from Napa’s sister-city of Iwanuma, Japan, and through the advocacy of Dr. Charles Ray, a professor of math at NVC and also a founding member of the Napa-Iwanuma Sister-City Committee, the garden was created on the grounds of the college. In 2022, Dr. van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy met Mr. John Hayes, an NVC alumnus and a landscape designer, and Mr. Jeff Moore, the son of a founding member of the Napa-Iwanuma Sister-City Committee, who wanted to volunteer their time to renovate the garden. They discussed how this could align with the need to create more culturally-rooted spaces at the college that would foster a sense of inclusion and belonging at the college. In 2024, Mr. Bill Imada, also a Napa community member, contacted the college with an offer to help restore the garden. Mr. Hayes presented plans for the redesign of the garden to the Cultural Spaces Work Group, and Mr. Imada offered cultural insights and suggestions. Work on the garden began in earnest last September, with Mr. Hayes volunteering much of his time to work with NVC facilities crew, especially Mr. Scott Watts, on repairing and rebuilding infrastructure, attending to existing plants and trees, installing new stones and boulders while repurposing what was salvageable, and sourcing materials for the garden, including bamboo which was harvested from other sites on campus and used to build the new fence surrounding the garden. Mr. Imada made a gift to the college to contribute to the cost of materials and a rededication of the garden. In April 2025, college faculty and staff volunteered their time, along with Mr. Imada, to plant new trees, shrubs, grasses, and groundcovers under the direction of Mr. Hayes. Work on the garden was completed in September, just prior to the rededication.
The college welcomed 100 attendees at the rededication, including 70 students, dignitaries, social justice leaders, community leaders, faculty, and staff. Mr. Hayes spoke about the design elements of the garden, the Japanese cultural practices that informed the renovation and his deep sense of community that inspired his work on the garden. Reverend Dennis Fujimoto (Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol) and Reverend Rodney Yano (Konko Church of San Francisco) educated the attendees on important principles in Japanese and Buddhist cultural practices, offered blessings, and invited attendees to participate in cultural practices such as making offerings and burning incense. Mr. Alan Atkinson honored community connections to the college and the garden, and the importance of the sister-city relationship with Iwanuma.
The rededication ended with a reception in the Community Room, with refreshments catered by Michi Japanese Cuisine.
Please click on the following link for Napa Valley Register's news article for the event: "Japanese Tea Garden at Napa Valley College rededicated" - September 15, 2025 article, Napa Valley Register.
Timeline of Napa-Iwanuma Sister City Relationship
1955
St. Paul, MN, established a sister city relationship with Nagasaki 10 years after the US dropped an atomic bomb there.
1956
Sister City program established during President Eisenhower’s administration. Program established as a way to build internation cooperation at the local level in the aftermath of WWII.
1972
Hiroshi Tanaka presents a course on Japanese gardening at Napa College during Fall 1972. “Tanaka will share with students his experience with the imperial gardens of Japan and a book of drawing and prints for which he was primarily responsible” (Napa Register, “Continuing Education Program, Napa Community College District,” 8/14/72).
1973
Napa-Iwanuma sister city relationship established on January 2, 1973.
“With memories of World War II still fresh in the minds of citizens of both the U.S. and Japan, Napa had put out the welcome mat in the early ‘70s to attract a Japan Air Lines pilot training facility, said Ron Greenslate, a sister city organizer.”
“Student pilots were feted with holiday meals in Napa homes and other welcoming events, Greenslate said. Because Iwanuma was another JAL training site, Napa leaders picked it as a friendship city” (Napa Valley Register, 2/12/2008).
1974
Napa delegation visit to Iwanuma. Japan’s national TV network filmed a documentary about the visit. Several other delegate visits in the years following.
Eleven Napa delegations to Iwanuma in the period between 1974 and 2011
1981
Iwanuma donates money that they’ve been collecting over several years to Napa Valley College for the construction of a Japanese Tea Garden. NVC’s Director of Maintenance and Operations, Dan TerAvest, conducts research and designs garden. “The whole intent of the garden is to cleanse the spirit of worldly stain and to enter the teahouse (which would be the college) in a spirit of true friendship” (Napa Valley Register, “Japan Promises Napa College a Tea Garden,” 6/19/81).
1982
Japanese Tea Garden at NVC established.
2008
Charles Ray planning an excursion to Iwanuma for the cherry blossom period. Advertised in article in Napa Valley Register.
Napa Valley College singers perform in Iwanuma.
2011
Fundraiser to raise funds for Iwanuma following 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Sendai (20 miles north of Iwanuma).
2018
45th anniversary of Iwanuma-Napa Sister City relationship. Iwanuma delegate visit to Napa (included mayor of Iwanuma, Hiroo Kikuchi. Ceremony at Napa City Hall welcoming the group, exchanging gifts, and honoring Charles Ray for his long-term chairmanship of the Sister City Committee. October 26 delegate visit to NVC.
2024
July - Community discussion held at NVC with a presentation by Mr. John Hayes introducing the rejuvenation project.
2025
April 6 - Community members were invited to volunteer with Spring planting in the garden.
September 15 - members of the college and community were welcomed at the Japanese Tea Garden Rededication event.
References
Courtney, Kevin. “Napa’s link with Japanese sister city reaches 35th anniversary”
Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco (page on Northern and Central California Sister Cities in Japan)
https://www.sf.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/e_m07_06_01.html
Napa raises thousands for Japanese sister city
https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2011/03/25/napa-raises-thousands-for-japanese-sister-city/
Help from the U.S. for Afflicted Sister Cities in Japan
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/us/20sister.html
NVC Singers in Japan – 2008
https://nvcsharepoint.napavalley.edu/academics/StudyAbroad/Pages/NVCSingersJapan2008.aspx
Help continue Napa’s sister city tradition