The tea house in Golden Gate Park on Oct. 20, 2011, was dedicated in honor of the late Jack Hirose, a philanthropist who donated $500,000 through the San Francisco Japantown Foundation to fund improvements to the tea garden structures, including the tea house.
Today’s dedication ceremony included a ribbon cutting at the front gate of the tea garden, a traditional raising of a thousand paper cranes, release of koi into the garden’s pond and a traditional breaking of a sake barrel. Previous to the event, a plaque honoring Hirose was placed on the wall of the tea house.
Emceed by Benh Nakajo, the program included remarks by Consul General of Japan Hiroshi Inomata, San Francisco Recreation and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg, San Francisco Japantown Foundation President Donald Tamaki and Don Hirose, Jack’s son. Inomata joined San Francisco Supervisors Eric Mar and Ross Mirkarimi in the sake barrel breaking.
