Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/14/2025
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location
Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden
Category(ies)
Tea House at Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden in Pasadena (Photo – W.K.)
A one-day exhibition titled Only the Oaks Remain will take place on Sunday, December 14, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, inviting the public to reflect on a little-known chapter of local and national history.
The Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden was designed by Japanese American landscape architect Kinzuchi Fujii and completed in 1940. During World War II, Fujii was labeled an “enemy alien” by the U.S. government and ordered to be detained at the Tuna Canyon Detention Station (TCDS) in Tujunga, located only a few miles from the garden. Because of overcrowding at TCDS, Fujii was instead held for one day at a Tuna Canyon substation at the Griffith Park Internment Camp.
From 1941 to 1943, the Tuna Canyon Detention Station held more than 2,000 prisoners, most of whom were Japanese, along with Germans, Italians, and others. Today, little remains of the site beyond its old oak trees, and its history is largely unknown. In response, the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition (TCDSC) was founded in 2013 to shed light on this history and to ensure that such injustices are never repeated.
As part of the exhibition, remarks will be delivered at 1:00 pm by Meher McArthur, Storrier Stearns Creative Director; Dr. Kendall H. Brown, Japanese garden historian; Kyoko Nancy Oda, President of the TCDSC; Dr. Russell Endo, TCDS historian; and Donna Sugimoto, a Tuna Canyon descendant and TCDSC Board Secretary. A question-and-answer session will follow.
At 2:00 pm, the program will conclude with a shakuhachi performance by renowned Japanese bamboo flute player Rachel Rudich.
The exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to engage with history, remembrance, and cultural expression in a setting closely connected to the events being explored.
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