The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a center for Japanese arts and culture located west of Delray Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The campus includes two museum buildings, the Roji-en Japanese Gardens: Garden of the Drops of Dew, a bonsai garden, library, gift shop, and a Japanese restaurant, called the Cornell Cafe, which has been featured on the Food Network and Vizcaya Television. Rotating exhibits are displayed in both buildings, and demonstrations, including tea ceremonies and classes, are held in the main building. Traditional Japanese festivals are celebrated several times a year.
The park and museum are named after George Morikami, a native of Miyazu, Japan, who donated his farm to Palm Beach County to be used as a park. George Morikami was the only member of the Yamato Colony, Florida to stay in Delray Beach after World War II. He originally proposed donating the land to the City of Delray Beach which declined. The Museum was opened in 1977, in a building that is now named the Yamato-kan. The principal museum building opened in 1993. Construction of the Roji-en gardens began in 1993.
The Morikami Park, which includes the museum, is 188.5 acres (76.3 ha). There is one picnic pavilion and six smaller picnic shelters and a playground. It is the location of the Challenger Astronaut Memorial and the Yamato Pioneer Memorial.
Chapters:
00:00 I’m in beautiful Delray Beach
00:09 Opening titles
00:18 Introduction
00:45 The Yamato Colony
01:00 George Morikami lived here
01:15 The gardens sit on 188 acres
01:30 Admission prices
01:50 On site restaurant
02:00 I grew in the area and never heard about it
02:20 I learned about it through Trip Advisor
02:35 The 6 gardens in the park
02:50 The bottom line
03:10 Comparing it to other Florida attractions
03:45 A little music for the video tour
06:20 Thanks for watching!
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For this video, I’m going to take you for a tour of the Morami Museum and Japanese Gardens located in Delray Beach, Florida. This is a fascinating and a really unique attraction that uh I discovered in Palm Beach County. The park and museum are named after George Morami, who actually grew up in South Florida. Now, George Morami was actually born in Wuyazu, Japan, but he came out to Palm Beach County to live and work at uh what at the time was the family farm. Now, a long time ago, there used to be a Yamato colony here in Florida, which was a bunch of uh Japanese immigrants. But because of the turmoil during World War II and the concentration camps and everything, they all moved away except George Morami. He was the only member of the Yumato colony to stay here in Florida. You know, as someone who was born and raised in South Florida, I always drove up and down uh Yamato Road, and I never had any idea where the name came from until I visited this particular attraction. So, the Morami Museum and Japanese Garden sits on about 188 acres. So, it’s a very large attraction. It’s larger than like Walt Disney World, at least the Magic Kingdom, and it’s just a really nice, beautiful place to walk around. The admission prices are very affordable. An adult admission runs about $16. Active military and seniors are 14. College students run about $12 and children’s ages 6 to 17 are $10. The museum building itself is pretty large. It has a library, a gift shop, a Japanese restaurant called the Cornell Cafe. It has a 220 seat movie theater that is showing um various films on a continuous loop. And they have rotating exhibits that are featured inside the designated museum section. What’s remarkable to me is I never heard of this place and I grew up in South Florida. Um this particular attraction opened up in 1977, which also happens to be the year I was born. What’s crazy about this attraction is my father worked right down the street and u you know I was always in this area a lot but I had never heard of it if it weren’t for the Trip Advisor app. I I never would have known that it was a thing. Bizarre to me that uh you know people could actually grow up around here and and just not know what an amazing park this was. So the botanical park is actually split up into six different gardens. They are the Shinden Garden, the Paradise Garden, the Early Rock Garden, Kerry Sansui Garden, the Heranawa Garden, and the Modern Romantic Garden. Now, uh I’m sure I mispronounced some of those. I’m just doing the best I can, guys, as a gringo. So, what’s my bottom line for the Morami Museum and Japanese Gardens? I’m going to recommend this attraction. You know, the botanical gardens aren’t patterned after the traditional like Florida roadside attractions like Cypress Gardens and Bach Tower where they would plant a lot of annuals that are really colorful and bright. Uh almost everything in the gardens here are perennials or evergreens, a lot of bonsai trees, that type of stuff. So, it’s a different type of garden, but it’s its unique flare really makes it stand out, especially among other attractions down here in Florida. So, I think you definitely can appreciate it. It really is a beautiful place to come and visit. And uh I spent the whole day. I mean 188 acres is a lot to walk. Uh you know there’s so many pathways and um branches and you can explore this place for hours and hours. Well, that pretty much wraps up all my thoughts on the Morami Museum. For the rest of this video, I’m just going to play a little music to show you around. [Music] Back. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] down. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Hey, [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] N. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Thanks for joining me on this tour of the Morami Museum. If you enjoyed this vlog of the Adventure Schmuck, don’t forget to like and subscribe.
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