. the bay area is host to some beautiful places of peace and relaxation, awash with history. >> feel like i'm going to [inaudible], very nice, yes. >> the focus is on japanese gardens on this edition of equal time. . > you are watching equal time. exploring new issues each week, giving equal time to competing points of view. >> welcome to the campus of san jose state university. this edition of equal time. i'm your host, bob rucker. climbing, curving bridges and viewing beautiful koi fish can

all be taken advantage of here. two spots the japanese friendship garden >> we can find the gardens everywhere in the world. this one is in -- and the garden in saratoga. >> i like the garden because it's a great place to have fun and games. >> the garden in san jose was built as a symbol of everlasting friendship between san jose and it's sister city in japan in 1965. >> this garden, you know, is an example of giving to the community. it was started with the plea to have relations, people relations with other countries. san jose adopted a sister city

in japan and they have adopted us, san jose as well. they have sent lanterns, and we have a gate, they also gave us some koi fish and we have descendants of them. >> it's offered a place for many memorable events. >> this is where we first met, ten years ago >> the garden in saratoga was created 1916 by a wealthy couple. she visited japan and wanted to have a smaller version here. >> the only garden in the western united states that survive world war ii. >> many historical events have happened here. > former prime minister has been here. we have celebrated the 50oth anniversary of the peace treaty

that ended world war ii. >> it has won national awards. >> the national trust for historic pre sevvation picked to get it's highest award. >> we have -- first road is a try to help the fundraising to preserve the beautiful garden. the second role is introduce real, traditional culture to the local community >> the biggest event is the japanese festival >> 1, 2, 3 >> they have raised more than $300,000 since 2001

it's a gathering place for many communities. >> we don't want to exclude any cultures we want to exchange many cultures. introducing the japanese culture. so, this year the chinese events, last year -- those are the really exciting opportunities in the garden at the chinese festival children introduced it. >> my father passed it down to me. my late father passed it down to me. i learned when i was 12. so my hope is to pass it down to the next generation, to him so -- we start with the asian culture. let's hear it for the asian cultural dance troupe!

. >> community involvement is growing in the garden the gardens also face serious problems. >> when we come back we will look at the challenges that these gardens face. beauty comes at a price. when equal time returns. . welcome back. we have seen how the japanese gardens are escapes from reality. they face challenges to growing to their full potential we show you how the gardens

rely on the community. >> the japanese gardens are always calm, quiet and beautiful. however, most of the japanese gardens face serious problems park rangers, maintains the japanese friendship garden. >> hi guys. we check the water temperatures. >> one year disaster struck. >> the last time we came here there was no pond, no fish and we haven't been back since. >> that was back in 2009. >> someone had a sick fish and maybe they didn't know it was sick and they put it into the pond it had ko i herpes which is always fatal. with in two weeks we lost all 400 of the fish that were here in the pond.

>> fortunately the garden has some fishing tanks. we use that opportunity to clean and restore the pond but other challenges remain. >> the challenges that i think we face are just right now financial ones. there is just not enough money -- seems like parks are always the bottom of the list. >> the garden needs a larger staff. >> we have reduced budgets and it's just become a real challenge to try to get things upgraded or fixed. >> the japanese friendship garden is supported by san jose city but the other garden gets no money from saratoga. it's owner for nearly half a century. in the 1950s, the gardens had flannen to disrepair but five prominent chinese families came forward to buy the garden. >> in 1961, this opportunity came up to buy the gardens and

they saw the gardens, you know, it had been -- there s some things that needed to be done. there '2was over run with poison oak. they had it cleared, they restored the ponds and the waterfall. >> in 1966, the tiniest families sold the garden to saratoga city. since then the city has maintained the garden. however. >> the city ran up with one city gardener. >> they needed support. >> where we started a foundation from -- it was costing about a quarter million dollars a year to maintain the guard and to maintain it successfully we need a budget -- almost a million dollars, three quarters of a million to maintain it. gardens like this normally would have -- i would say, ten

gardeners. we have three. so, really building a business model that is not commercial. to really generate funds for this garden such as this is quite a challenge. >> the committee is another challenge. >> how to extend our activity and how to -- how we can have a more people at a member of the committee. it's one of the difficulties and feelings. >> the members, devote countless hours. >> my time is one of the challenges i work hard in the daytime and the nighttime, weekend, i spend my time to how to help this garden, working together with my committee members. >> it's worth it. >> it feels like home

>> >> sometimes i miss my home country. when i -- come to the garden, it helps me to remind the beauty of my home country. it's a very nice place. like my second home >> and the work to maintain the gardens is appreciated by many. >> feel like i'm going to japan. >> interesting how they developed this and how they funded it and started it. it has a lot of history. >> i want her to learn there is a lot of different cultural events in san jose and help her try to decide what she wants to study, when they she goes to elementary school. >> i have been coming for almost ten years. it's really been kind of like a family part of me

. welcome back to this edition of equal time. our focus is on japanese gardens. let's meet our guests . >> hi. i'm hiro, chairman of the supporting committee >> i'm a member of the persian new year's supporting committee of the japanese garden. >> lawrence, ceo of the foundation for estate and gardens in saratoga. >> randy adams with the city of san jose, supervisor, kelley

park and the japanese friendship garden. >> i'm [inaudible] a graduate student. >> thank you for being here. you know most people understand or have been to the japanese guard but here is a key question. what do japanese gardens mean to the community? >> well, for ours, it's the oldest gardens in the west. so we are a natural global heritage site for people of all cultures. we -- that's why we are so honored to have the japanese festival each year. the lunal new year, the persian new year celebration. it's a celebration of all cultures, it's the most diverse population center in the world. it's ideal situation to celebrate the global civilizations . >> i would agree.

>> certainly, you know the japanese friendship garden is a symbol of the sister city relationship we have with the people in japan. the japanese community right here in san jose, it's a place where many citizens make memories of a lifetime from the weddings and special photography they do at the park. it's a place where i think they build memories and -- certainly the mission at parks and rec is to provide a respite from rush and hustle of our every day lives and the quietness there is valuable to all of us. >> i think we can all related to that. maintaining a facility like that is not easy. how difficult is it to maintain? >> definitely the fundraising is one of the challenges i'm in charge of the committee and we want to preserve the

beautiful garden as long as possible. so we -- every year we have fundraising events. it's called long nation so our committee is start from the 1999 and last 13 years we have successfully get -- about 340,000 donations to the gardens and foundation. it's amazing achievement. >> you are a very good fundraiser. >> i appreciate many communities, japanese communities, and many other people. >> yeah. >> that sounds like a friendly com competition there. >> the amazing part of the garden is the global reach. that's what they are specifically reaching out to

the p esian community . although it was part fundraising but the important part of it was also, introducing the persian culture and the most important celebration of that culture, the beautiful place like the garden, because it happens right at the equinox which is when all the flowers come and the garden was the best place for that. >> sounds beautiful. you mentioned earlier that you have had hollywood producers there. >> yes. the entire move january and february 2005 in the dead of winter we hosted columbia pictures for a film, memoirs of a geisha. because of so many props people don't recognize it right away but it was a great experience

for us. it helped us save the gardens. we have spent millions restoring the gardens and that was a great boost for us. >> how can san jose -- i don't think you compete but how can san jose stay equal or well prepared to offer the opportunities? >> you know the japanese friendship garden is supported by the general fund of the city of san jose but as you know, all the areas are hard pressed to keep up with the budget deficits. we try to off set some of the cost of the gardens through our fees for weddings. we have -- i think we have had 55 weddings in the last five- years. we have about ten a year san jose, the -- they just renovated and is in the process of renovating the tea house in the garden. that will be ready for receptions where you can have your wednesdaying reception right there in the garden starting in august or september

of 2013. >> great opportunity. can you generate enough revenue to keep it at the level you prefer or do you find that donations good, strong, not? government support? donation support? is it where you want it to be? >> there is not a nonprofit support right now organization as the happy hollow foundation does with in the kelley park. we try to look at other ways to raise money. we have a wishing well inside the park where people can make donations that way as well as one popular thing, especially for the kids, or the fish feeders, the koi fish and that raises some money we have a trust fund to support the garden. >> and you are a graduate student. why were you interested in doing this? >> it was one year ago. i went to the garden to shoot short films

i shoot short films and my friends told me the story that the company got [inaudible] from japanese garden because they gave up keeping the koi fish because it cost money. i was surprised to hear that i notice that many of the japanese gardens, facing similar problems so i wanted to help. >> and you -- mentioned serenity. that's why you went there to shoot a story now i'm making a film. >> we are looking forward to see that. i wonder if there are any questions for our guests as we have all the fire power here right now. >> is there any feedback from the community? >> feedback from the community? yeah. from the persian community, they have been having a celebration. the feedback has been amazingly positive. just to give you the idea it

was a -- the rainy day pouring down and usually when it happens, not to many people want to go out. here it is over 600 people showed up for this celebration and they didn't want to leave. the rain stopped -- but people didn't want to leave. there was a lot of coverage, it was talk of the persian community that they really appreciated. they didn't know about the gardens, they were surprised that this garden is hosting this event. so, it has a really positive impact for the community, of the area, which i think over a thousand people here. >> do you ever have concerns with so many people showing up unexpectedly, security concerns, how do you maintain a safe environment? >> well we have been blessed. we do -- we always alert the local sheriff but we have never

had a problem. there is something that -- about the japanese garden and just the whole beauty, here you are in this masterpiece of beauty that there is a transforming experience where you can really internalize that sense of harmony around you. we haven't had problems but we do make sure that we let the property authorities know each time. normally it's a place where people come to experience and that's just part of the real organic nature of the garden of peace. >> the city has the same experience. do you get feedback from people? >> which have we have gotten positive feedback, especially with the reintroduction of the koi fish. we lost most of them after a

herpes outbreak. we put them back after -- we put in a new system in to the pond. we had a lot of positive response from the community you mentioned, security, the park rangers, are stationed there at kelley park. we have three of them that maintain the fish population as well as mainly -- we really have not had it -- a family park, children's park, in kelley park as well. they are mailing there for -- other informational services but they are -- our security folks as well. >> very good. >> you have a foundation and you support it by government funds. correct? just talk about foundation. what does that mean to the public? do they get involved? how do they get involved in. >> well, great question.

one -- our sympathy is with you in terms of having the garden was bought by the city of saratoga in 1956 and was run until 1984 by the city itself hands on. from 84 until 2000 it was operated by a commission. it's difficult in general public's mind to give money to a government entity. we received in public funds and it's a matter of really bringing community and people -- it's different than raising money for say, a business venture. instead of that people are looking for the checkbook and their wallet in this it's the heart. you are -- people want to be a part of a community. that's what we -- it takes time. the foundation is just over 12.

we have a crew of three gardens, it takes year to learn this. you mentioned the koi. that was texas insruments that gave us that. it's a challenge to keep it going. the pond is about 4500-gallons and it's a challenge to keep it clean. >> if you gave me a figure of what it costs to fun the facility. every time what would the public need to know. >> just to keep the beauty. is about almost three quarters of a mill in that area. that's the bare minimum. . >> is nah the same for san jose? >> we run the garden with one full time gardener. the kelley park maintenance

people do support that as well. if you look at the costs you are looking in the neighborhood of 175 to $200,000 on top of utilities and other maintenance and repair costs. we are not nearly the three quarters of a million dollars expense per year. >> do you do fundraising like for the department? do you go out to the community and go out to silicon valley? >> we ask for support in different ways. we don't have a fundraising arm or fundraising section to raise funds. as a matter of fact i left a meeting the rangers. they were -- organizing a volunteer and docent organization. >> as you all do at kelley park. we host weddings. we are an event venue. the only way we get back the funds for the community to have

family events, business off site meetings, retreats only in the little [inaudible] bar mitzvah in the japanese garden. >> this is where you want to come to relax, negotiate, get something done. are you able to attract in san jose? >> well, you know, the -- what we are trying to do in terms of fundraising, i think is operate more like a business, we don't have a nonprofit arm that's fundraising but we are proud to be opening the tea house inside the garden which has been closed for many years and we have just -- we are in the process of renovating that so that will be available for receptions, and you know we are trying to add value to support it and operate it like a

business to help with the funds. the community is very supportive of the gardens and certainly in san jose we have probably the most diverse community i can imagine. to, a person they are -- gotten many, compliments of the value of the gardens and the community. some of those are memories they have made. we have many wedding portraits, even without the ceremony, it's a beautiful backdrop. there are probably a few albums where the gardens are hosting their memories of a lifetime. >> absolutely. i have been to a wedding there. we have a few more minutes. let's talk about your culture and why it's important to you. >> as a japanese living in the united states, i feel that one of my missions has been introducing our culture. when i was in japan i met a lot

of people from all over the world because my mother was owning -- running the japanese language school at the home -- like -- i ate different food, from like different cultures, and i enjoyed it. now i'm here and it's so diverse in here. it's good to extend cultures. maybe it may help the children in this area to learn how to appropriate different cultures. if a comfortable, setting where you can talk. any last thoughts? >> quickly. >> getting the customer -- sorry, getting the people's attention to the garden is a very important. in order to do that, in addition to the fundraising, we are introducing the japanese culture such as -- the music band, preformers. >> we will have to look forward to that.

we are about out of time. that all sounds interesting and i feel relaxed. i thank you all for joining us. come on back for another edition of equal time. fferent

(male #1) let's take an rv and hollow it out. let's turn that into a stage. we'll livestream everything. people can tweet in questions. we can have this cool dialogue and connection between the leaders that we have in-house and our community out there. (ray) we've got some really cool interviews today, we've got dave and milena from the long beach aquarium of the pacific. i think i'm successful in that i'm happy. (dave) do the thing you want to do, and find a way to make it pay. (female announcer) roadtrip nation would like to thank the college board for supporting this series. the college board: connect to college success. (male announcer) this public television series is supported by the university of phoenix foundation. helping roadtrip