Reflecting on 2025: Records, Reconciliation, and a Community Growing Stronger

As 2025 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on what has been, by any measure, the most remarkable year in the history of the Friends of the Japanese Garden of Peace.

March – Stream Restoration

April – Bamboo Cloud-Pruning

May – Red Acer Rescued

July – Pond and Waterway Work

August – Record Eighteen Volunteers

VJ Day 80 – Wreath-Laying

VJ Day 80 – At the Gateway

VJ Day 80 – Wreath of Remembrance

VJ Day 80 – A Symbol of Reconciliation

The season opened in March with a fresh cohort of volunteers—four of them joining us for the very first time—tackling the bamboo secret hideout, clearing the pond banks of carex, and getting into the streams to restore their flow. It was the quiet, purposeful kind of start that makes everything that followed possible.

April brought our biggest turnout to that point: thirteen Friends gathered under spring sunshine, filled a council truck with prunings and green waste, and completed the cloud-pruning transformation of the bamboo hideout. We also began the long-overdue restoration of the gateway beds, welcoming Graham and Tom from the Japanese Garden Society, whose guidance on selective pruning and planting was invaluable.

In May, six volunteers proved that a small crew with determination can still move mountains—or in our case, five industrial ton bags of Carex pendula from the south pond bank, alongside a full truck of bamboo and bramble clearance from the east railings.

The summer sessions in July and August turned to the waterways and bamboo groves, with volunteers donning waders to address blanketweed, water lily blockages, and the historic stonework at the pond’s edge. Then in August, we made history: eighteen Friends turned out for a single session—our highest ever—including a visitor from Philadelphia who happened to be in London and joined in without hesitation. The team generated sixteen ton bags of green waste in one day, also a record, and left the garden visibly transformed.

That same summer, the garden stepped onto a national stage. On 15 August, as part of the official VJ Day 80th anniversary commemorations, a wreath-laying ceremony took place here alongside simultaneous observances at the Cenotaph, the National Memorial Arboretum and Edinburgh Castle. The Ministry of Defence chose the Garden specifically to reflect the reconciliation between the UK and Japan in the decades since the war. For a garden that has stood witness to that entire journey—created in 1910 in the spirit of alliance, surviving the darkest years, and thriving today as a community heritage site—the moment felt exactly right.

None of this would have happened without each and every one of you who gave up your Sundays this year. As we look ahead to 2026, I hope to see even more familiar and new faces join us from March onwards. The garden will be ready for you.

Wishing you a peaceful New Year, Dario Vianello Chair, Friends of the Japanese Garden of Peace