In 1988, Consul General of Japan in Houston Yasuo Hori (堀靖夫 Hori Yasuo) began meeting with Mayor of Houston Kathy Whitmire to discuss the possibility of a Japanese garden in Houston.
After talks with the Japanese Business Association of Houston (ヒューストン日本商工会 Hyūsuton Nihon Shōkōkai), Japanese Garden Inc. was founded to raise funds for the potential garden's design and construction.
Transient Japanese businessmen were not consistently involved with the enterprise, but contributed to the effort as their time in Houston allowed.

In 1990, Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu arrived in Houston for the 16th G7 Summit.
As a gesture of goodwill towards the city, he arranged for the donation of a traditional Japanese teahouse by the Japan World Exposition 1970 Commemorative Fund.
Constructed in Japan with traditional materials, the teahouse was broken down and shipped to Houston, where it would be reassembled by Japanese craftsmen without use of a single nail.
Before the structure arrived for reassembly, Tokyo landscape architect Ken Nakajima was commissioned to plan the garden.
He wrote of the project, "We must work with nature to create a new space and sense of beauty.
This is the essence of the Japanese garden."

After a groundbreaking on March 26, 1991, the garden's structural elements were complete before the teahouse arrived.
Houstonian landscape architect Lauren Griffith worked with Nakajima to select plants appropriate for both the local climate and a traditional Japanese aesthetic.
After fourteen months of teahouse assembly and plant installation, the Hermann Park's Japanese Garden was dedicated on May 4, 1992.

By 2006, the garden's traditional Japanese aesthetic had been Americanized.
Houstonian Kunio Minami remembers that american annuals such as petunias and pansies had been planted with little consideration for the garden's original design.
In response, Nakajima's successor, Terunobu Nakai, was hired to lead a restoration effort.
Visiting Houston annually until his death in 2012, Nakai and his associates restored Nakajima's original vision.
Nakai taught local gardeners the sukashi pruning method, and noted that flowers should not play a large part in traditional Japanese gardens, which use flowers with solitary blooms like irises and lilies to emphasize form over a mass of color.
During his final visit in 2011, Nakai met with White Oak Studio's landscape architect Jim Patterson to discuss improvements to the Fannin Street side of Hermann Park, and a potential second entrance to the Japanese Garden to serve the Hermann Park/Rice University MetroRail station.

Nakai's work was taken over by Aya Hashimoto, who focused her 2012 visit on improving the garden's perimeter and planning for the new gate.

An episode of Houston Public Media TV-8's Arts InSight was filmed in the garden in 2014.
In 2017, the garden hosted the Hermann Park Conservancy's fifteenth annual "Evening in the Park" fundraiser.
The event commemorated the garden's 25th anniversary and raised more than $600,000 for restoration efforts.
In 1988, Consul General of Japan in Houston Yasuo Hori (堀靖夫 Hori Yasuo) began meeting with Mayor of Houston Kathy Whitmire to discuss the possibility of a Japanese garden in Houston. After talks with the Japanese Business Association of Houston (ヒューストン日本商工会 Hyūsuton Nihon Shōkōkai), Japanese Garden Inc. was founded to raise funds for the potential garden's design and construction. Transient Japanese businessmen were not consistently involved with the enterprise, but contributed to the effort as their time in Houston allowed.
In 1990, Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu arrived in Houston for the 16th G7 Summit. As a gesture of goodwill towards the city, he arranged for the donation of a traditional Japanese teahouse by the Japan World Exposition 1970 Commemorative Fund. Constructed in Japan with traditional materials, the teahouse was broken down and shipped to Houston, where it would be reassembled by Japanese craftsmen without use of a single nail. Before the structure arrived for reassembly, Tokyo landscape architect Ken Nakajima was commissioned to plan the garden. He wrote of the project, "We must work with nature to create a new space and sense of beauty. This is the essence of the Japanese garden."
After a groundbreaking on March 26, 1991, the garden's structural elements were complete before the teahouse arrived. Houstonian landscape architect Lauren Griffith worked with Nakajima to select plants appropriate for both the local climate and a traditional Japanese aesthetic. After fourteen months of teahouse assembly and plant installation, the Hermann Park's Japanese Garden was dedicated on May 4, 1992.
By 2006, the garden's traditional Japanese aesthetic had been Americanized. Houstonian Kunio Minami remembers that american annuals such as petunias and pansies had been planted with little consideration for the garden's original design. In response, Nakajima's successor, Terunobu Nakai, was hired to lead a restoration effort. Visiting Houston annually until his death in 2012, Nakai and his associates restored Nakajima's original vision. Nakai taught local gardeners the sukashi pruning method, and noted that flowers should not play a large part in traditional Japanese gardens, which use flowers with solitary blooms like irises and lilies to emphasize form over a mass of color. During his final visit in 2011, Nakai met with White Oak Studio's landscape architect Jim Patterson to discuss improvements to the Fannin Street side of Hermann Park, and a potential second entrance to the Japanese Garden to serve the Hermann Park/Rice University MetroRail station.
Nakai's work was taken over by Aya Hashimoto, who focused her 2012 visit on improving the garden's perimeter and planning for the new gate.
An episode of Houston Public Media TV-8's Arts InSight was filmed in the garden in 2014. In 2017, the garden hosted the Hermann Park Conservancy's fifteenth annual "Evening in the Park" fundraiser. The event commemorated the garden's 25th anniversary and raised more than $600,000 for restoration efforts.
Japanese Garden (Houston)