The Seike Japanese Gardens

An important piece of Japanese American history -- and the history of the Pacific Northwest -- needs the community's help.

Seike Japanese Gardens in Burien is in danger of being dismantled if someone doesn't come forward with the money needed to relocate the entire garden.

To see this garden hauled away, tree by tree, lantern by lantern, would be a shame. The Seike family built the garden on the grounds of their Des Moines Way Nursery, which they opened in the 1940s after returning from the internment camp. At a time when most Japanese Americans lost their properties and belongings as a result of the incarceration, the Seike family was one of the few who could return to their old land. That is a special story.

Hal and Ben Seike began building the Japanese garden in 1961. They wanted it to be a communal area for the family as well as an attraction for the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle.

Last year, the brothers sold the nursery's site to the Port of Seattle, which needed the land for its third runway project. They reportedly sold it for $800,000.

Unless someone is willing to put up the money to relocate it in its entirety by March, the demolition contractor has the right to sell off bits and pieces of the garden. The Port of Seattle has acknowledged that it doesn't want to see that happen to the historic garden, but said it has no way of coming up with the funding to move it. It would cost the port more than $1 million to move it, according to a spokesperson.

Rep. Velma Veloria, whose district includes the historic land, has said that she will try to convince fellow legislators to earmark $1 million for the garden. That idea, however, seems unlikely to come to fruition, given the state's budget woes.

It's up to the community -- perhaps a nonprofit cultural organization or a group of generous community-minded individuals -- to figure out how to save this garden.

Seike Japanese Gardens is worth saving because it holds a special place in Pacific Northwest history, not to mention because it is also a beautiful piece of living art. Much of the South King County area was farmed by Japanese immigrants in the early part of the 20th century. It was built on the backs of hard-working individuals who wanted to plant roots, so to speak, in the Northwest. Look how far the Japanese American community has come since that era. Now Japanese Americans are artists and writers, doctors and judges, parents and grandparents, activists and professionals, public officials and college students.

The garden represents the beginning of the Japanese American community in the Northwest. Its foundation was laid by farmers like the Seike family. Not only is the garden significant to the Japanese American community, but the larger community as well, for it tells the story of how the Pacific Northwest came to be what it is today.