10/8 10:30-12:05, Sunday. Cloudy. Free for Bank of America card holders this weekend. Lots of people. I walked from Washington Park Max stop, through part of Hoyt Arboretum, then to Wildwood Trail (directed by a sign to Japanese Garden). But when I was practically at the back door of the garden, a sign says "trail not finished", but no alternative direction was given. I continued onto a road, outside of this fence. Saw ~2 park vehicles going by inside the fence. Eventually there's no space beside the fence that I could safely walk on. Had to grab on the vines and branches to scramble down a rather steep slope towards the giant parking lot. Gripe #1.
I was still early, about 10:30am, so no line at the ticket booth. Once inside, still enough people blocking my way. There's a nice looking terrace with narrow zigzag (paved for wheelchair) slowly inching up, but no steps to bridge the zigzag. Gripe #2.
At the end of this zigzag, a very nicely done set of stairs next to this water feature. Then, it's the original paved path to go up to the garden itself. A few new buildings, nicely done. This education building has the office of the director (locked) on the 2nd floor via a beautiful staircase. There's a nice courtyard you can see from the glass wall. 1st floor has classrooms. Outside, wood screen where you can slide open, like vertical blinds (except you don't turn the blade).
The next building seems to be offices. I was taking photo of this bench. Clean and elegant design. A park employee (or volunteer) told me it's white oak, and the wall is Alaska western cedar, so is the wood screen. But the entrance wall of this building is Japanese chestnut. The door is seamless in the wall. I didn't notice that it was a door, until someone opened the door. He told me the chestnut was knocked by Japanese adze to create bamboo like patterns. Expense for the eyes, but serves no function. 
Behind this building is a small bonzai display area. Many of these twisted plants are as old as me. I was also informed that these new buildings have green roof - covered with sedum, at least this has practical benefit.
At 11am, I joined a guided tour. Our guide is originally from Japan. I like her. She's straightforward and cheerful. She tried to think of wheelchair accessible routes (not an easy task in this garden), but eventually lost everyone but me and 2 other guys. I didn't know that the garden was built on the old Oregon Zoo. The waterfall and fish pond was the bear den. According to her, this garden serves 3 purposes: culture awareness, education, tourism ($15 ticket price is certainly high). Preservation and environment is not a concern. There're 3 elements in a Japanese Garden: stone, water, plants. Flowers are a side effect, more of a distraction than a decoration. Green leaves and moss are more harmonious. She pointed to different strategic placement of stones, winding paths to make you slow down, view obstruction and borrowing to make the garden appear larger. She showed us the proper way of entering a tea ceremony and the tools used. She said that we shall come late in the evening, when it's much quieter. We finished the tour at the main Zen garden, which is a departure of the usual stone gardens: the little stones were raked like rice paddies now for the harvest moon festival last week, 2 green islands representing sake cup and gourd. These little stones are from a Japanese river bed, no longer legal to harvest. They stay white and glitter a bit under the sun. I really enjoyed her tour, especially the latter half, when the participation dwindled significantly. When I left the garden, the noon tour just started. A long line in front of the ticket window.
I'll probably come back in a month to see fall foliage. This year, the color seems to turn later. For more photos, see my last visit in spring: more color.
The walk through the rose garden is always a delight. Quite a few admirers, less than in the summer, so are flowers.
