Nikkei Memorial Garden
By Chuck Tasaka (former Greenwood resident)

Grand Opening: Greenwood Nikkei Memorial Garden

Join us as we celebrate this memorable event.  

Date:                  Sunday, July 20, 2025

Location:          Nikkei Legacy Park

Schedule:         10:00 am – Okinawa Southern Wave Music and Dance Society will be performing
                            10:30 – Speeches
                            11:00 – Ribbon-cutting ceremony

After operating on a 'Kool Aid' budget for the past ten years, the Nikkei Legacy Park has been transformed with a 15th century Japanese style rock garden.             

The 'new' Greenwood Nikkei Memorial Garden is dedicated to some 1,200 Japanese-Canadians who were sent to this once thriving copper smelter mining community that fell on hard times after World War I. On April 26, 1942, Greenwood became the first Nikkei internment site, thanks to the vision and courage of Mayor W.E. McArthur Sr. who accepted the exiles and the Franciscan Sisters and Friars who accepted full responsibility for the welfare of the Japanese Canadians and the safety of the town folks. The City of Greenwood once again became a bustling community with over half of the businesses being owned or operated by Japanese Canadians. The first internment site morphed into a community where everyone co-existed in harmony.             

The Greenwood Nikkei Memorial Garden came to fruition mainly due to the generous funding from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society and the Heritage Site group and the full support and unbelievable in-kind service from the City of Greenwood. The Greenwood Public Works crew and the Kunon and Japonica Landscaping companies did an amazing job in completing project. 

Everyone is welcome to the other activities in Greenwood this weekend.

July 19              Founders Day
July 20             8:30 a.m.  Greenwood Volunteer Fire Department Pancake Breakfast (by donation).