The Japanese city of Tokai-Mura is a sister city to Idaho Falls. To celebrate this friendship, the city built the Japanese Friendship Garden on a small island in the middle of the Snake River near Broadway Bridge.

There is a footbridge that provides access to the island from both sides of the river. A few decades ago, Tokai-Mura donated to Idaho Falls a large traditional stone lantern, which was placed in the Friendship Garden. It was the beginning of a community project that had the goal of creating a Japanese pavilion. Clarke Kido started landscaping the area near the lantern, and was joined later by Judy Sydel and Mike Zaladonis and many other volunteers. They planted bushes and trees, built a path and a deck, and slowly built a beautiful pavilion in the true Japanese tradition.

The Japanese Pavilion was officially opened to the public in 2016 and is today a wonderful, peaceful oasis, reflecting Japanese gardening and building esthetics and celebrating the friendship between the two cities.

Address: Island in the river at Broadway, Sportsmans Park; the Friendship Garden, Idaho Falls, ID, Phone: 208-881-3569

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