Self-Guided Tour: Downtown and Greater Portland

Downtown Portland
Portland, East
Portland, North
Portland, South
Portland, West
Other Points of Interest
Map

Using Portland’s rider-friendly public transportation system that includes light rail trains (MAX), streetcars and buses, visitors can tour the city to learn about Japanese-American culture. First, pick up a map and day pass at the Tri-Met office in Pioneer Courthouse Square. The day pass can be used on all Tri-Met buses and MAX lines.

Begin at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center in Old Town for an overview, walk down to Portland’s waterfront to the Japanese American Historical Plaza, then begin your exploration throughout the city aboard MAX or on a city bus.

Downtown Portland

Nihonmachi map, site # 1
(MAX from downtown to Old Town/Chinatown/Japantown)
The historic neighborhood now officially called Chinatown/Old Town/Japantown was, prior to 1942, known as Japantown or Nihonmachi. Here Japanese businesses—grocery stores, hotels, bath houses, laundries, theaters, gambling and social clubs, beauty salons and restaurants—filled 12 square blocks. Revisit the world of Nihonmachi, courtesy of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center’s historical tours (503.224.1458), guided by community members who remember Nihonmachi.

Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center map, site # 2
(MAX from down-town to Old Town/China-town)
121 NW 2nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 224-1458
Exhibits highlight the Japanese immigrant and Japanese-American experience in Oregon with photographs and artifacts. The center offers public lectures, as well as exciting performances by Portland Taiko, a traditional drumming group.

Japanese American Historical Plaza/ Bill of Rights Memorial map, site # 3
Walk from Couch Street to the waterfront along Northwest Naito Parkway where 13 stone markers commemorate the history of the Issei and their descendants. Many of the stones, engraved with short poems and names of internment camps emphasize the story of Japanese Americans. Begin at the first stone, featuring a bronze plaque inscribed with the United States Bill of Rights. Each spring (March-April) the cherry trees here are resplendent with pink blooms. This award-winning monument was designed by Portland landscape architect Robert Murase. Guided tours are offered by the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, 503.224.1458.

Friendship Circle map, site # 4
From the Japanese American Historical Plaza, walk north to the end of Waterfront Park, where you will find a “singing” sculpture. Two local artists, sculptor Lee Kelly and composer Michael Stirling, created the sculpture to celebrate Portland’s 30-year Sister City relationship with Sapporo, Japan. For more information on this sculpture and other public art in Portland, pick up the guide “Public Art Walking Tour” at the Visitor Information Center, 26 S.W. Salmon St.

Gallery Zen map, site # 6
(Tri-Met bus #77, or walk from Old Town)
525 N.W. 10th Ave.
503.221.3184
This handsome gallery in the city’s Pearl District hosts a large selection of fine 18th and 19th century furniture and artifacts. The gallery’s high ceilings, old timber beams and simplicity of design recall Japanese country houses. A tranquil rock garden evokes a Zen aesthetic.

Portland Art Museum map, site # 7
(Tri-Met bus #6)
1219 S.W. Park Ave.
503.226.2811
The Hersch Galleries, in the Asian art wing, exhibit some of the museum’s extensive collection of Japanese, Chinese and Korean art. The Japanese gallery includes paintings, textiles, pottery, furniture and ceremonial items. Open Tuesday through Sunday.

return to top

Portland, East

Sapporo Bell map, site # 8
(MAX from Old Town to the Oregon Convention Center
777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
This bell is a gift from Portland’s Sister City, Sapporo, Japan. Installed near the entrance to the Oregon Convention Center, this magnificent bronze bell rings intermittently throughout the day. Its deep tones serve as one more reminder of the continued influence of Japanese culture on this city.

Anzen Importers map, site # 9
736 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
503.233.5111
A family owned business since 1905, Anzen features a wide selection of Japanese imported goods, including fresh and prepared foods, cookware, videos, books and gifts.

Rose City Cemetery map, site # 10
(Tri-Met bus #33)
5625 N.E. Fremont
503.281.3821
Within the grounds of Rose City Cemetery, a private Japanese cemetery beckons with an elaborate entry gate flanked by two stone lanterns. Many of Oregon’s early Issei and Nisei rest in this tranquil atmosphere of cherry trees, evergreens, bamboo and lilacs. The site, bordered by hedges and maintained by the Japanese Ancestral Society of Portland, also includes a memorial obelisk dedicated to the memory of American men of Japanese ancestry who died in American wars.

return to top

Portland, North

Portland Expo Center map, site # 11
(Tri-Met bus #6)
North Portland, I-5, exit west on 306B
503.736.5200
Long before the Expo Center was built, these grounds housed a stockyard where Japanese Americans were held in 1942 for three months before they were ordered to internment camps throughout the West. A plaque in Exhibit Hall A commemorates this historic event.

return to top

Portland, South

Japan Bonsai map, site # 12
(Tri-Met bus #5)
1119 S.W. Capitol Hwy.
503.245.4346
The Oregon Bonsai-Saikei Institute offers evening and weekend classes in the elegant arts of bonsai (miniature trees) and saikei (miniature landscapes). The institute’s shop (open daily) offers a wide selection of plants as well as bonsai and saikei tools.

return to top

Portland, West

Uwajimaya Asian Food Store map, site # 13
(Tri-Met bus #54)
10500 S.W. Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy.
Beaverton
503.643.4512
A mega-supermarket of Japanese and Asian imports offering a huge selection of fresh produce and live seafood. The Hakatamon Restaurant and Kinokuniya bookstore are also on the premises.

Westside MAX Stations map, site # 14
Subtle Japanese influences grace many Westside MAX stations. Pick up the map “Art on the Westside MAX” at the Tri-Met office in Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown and keep your eyes open for the Japanese-inspired stonework at Goose Hollow/Jefferson Street or for the Japanese characters imbedded in the sidewalk outside Beaverton Creek Station (they translate as “Eastbound”).

Notice the delicate landscape features of flowering cherry trees around the Willow Creek/185th Transit Center and the cast bronze ceremonial garland, patterned after the Japanese garlands that hang at the entrances to most Shinto shrines, at Hillsboro Central/S.E. Third Center. A haiku poem engraved in the paving stones recognizes Japanese Americans’ contributions to Washington County.

Japanese Garden map, site # 15
(Tri-Met bus #63 or,
from June-August, take MAX to the Oregon Zoo and ride a free shuttle to the garden)
503.223.1321
High above busy Portland, the Japanese Garden offers an ideal retreat for meditation and contemplation. Take your time and wander through the serene grounds. Covering nearly 5.5 acres, the Japanese Garden is really five separate, composed gardens, replete with exquisite plants, carefully placed stones and restful pools. Visit the gardens of Chisen-kaiyui-shiki (Strolling Pond); Roji-niwa (Tea); Shukeiyen (Natural); Karesansui (Dry Landscape Garden) and Hira-niwa (Flat Landscape Garden). A tea house, pavilion, moon bridge, poetry stone, Iyo stone (a special rock from the island of Shikoku, Japan) and the five-tiered pagoda lantern from Sapporo, Japan, grace the elegant landscape. Even the tool sheds are works of art.
Guided tours daily April through October at 10:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

return to top

Other Points of Interest

Momokawa Sake Brewery
820 Elm St.
Forest Grove
503.357.7056
Oregon’s only sake brewery. Sake tasting, noon to 5 p.m.
Tours, noon-2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Gresham Pioneer Cemetery
Powell Blvd. and Walters Ave.
Visit a memorial to Oregon’s first Japanese pioneer, Miyo Iwakoshi, who came to Oregon in 1880 (Lot 85, Grave 3E).

Nichiren Buddhist Church of Portland map, site # 16
(Tri-Met bus #19, #20)
2031 S.E. Yamhill St.
503.232.8064
This community center for some of Portland’s Japanese Buddhists annually hosts a New Year’s celebration, an event for Buddha’s birthday, a Spring festival and Obon services. Visitors welcome.

Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery map, site # 17
(Tri-Met bus #15)
2115 S.E. Morrison St.
Several dozen markers inscribed with Japanese characters line the southwest corner of this pioneer cemetery. Graves date from 1897.

Abbott’s Koi & Fountains map, site # 18
(Tri-Met bus #9)
2820 S.E. Powell Blvd.
503.232.9169
Retreat from busy Powell Blvd., into the entrancing world of this tiny garden shop, specializing in fountains, ponds and tanks of exotic Japanese and Thai koi (colorful carp).

Oregon Buddhist Temple map, site # 19
(Tri-Met bus #9)
3720 S.E. 34th Ave.
503.234.9456
One of the oldest religious centers for the Japanese community, this temple is especially noteworthy for its beautiful sanctuary altar. Portland’s Japanese Buddhists host a New Year’s party, celebrate the birthdate of Buddha and conduct Obon services at this center. Call for a schedule. Visitors are welcome.

return to top