Executive Leadership Bios
Steve Bloom

Stephen D. Bloom
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Steve Bloom has led Portland Japanese Garden as CEO since 2005 and has transformed not
only the landscape of Portland but the international field of Japanese gardens and the global
conversation around the art and importance of cultural diplomacy. Bloom’s visionary approachpromotes the belief that at the intersection of the built, natural, intellectual, and creativeenvironments, humanity can achieve better mutual understanding. Through the creation ofPortland Japanese Garden’s curatorial department –which oversees more than 200 eventsannually and has kept its grounds in world-class condition – Bloom has proven that culturallandscapes can be a platforms that use art, design, nature, dialogue, diplomacy, and knowledge
to evolve societal attitudes and tolerances towards a more peaceful world.
Bloom is also responsible for the creation of Japan Institute, a sibling organization of Portland
Japanese Garden with a vision of being the leading global platform outside Japan for sharing
the nation’s greatest gifts with the world, including its culture, art, design, and uniqueconnection to nature. Japan Institute, established in 2022, is based in Portland, but presents
programming on six continents across the globe. It is comprised of three centers: TheInternational Japanese Garden Training Center, The Global Center for Culture & Art, and The
International Exchange Forum. Through the International Exchange Forum, Bloom paved thepath for its signature series of Peace Symposia titled “Peacemaking at the Intersection ofCulture, Art, and Nature”, which have engaged notable and prestigious individuals andorganizations such as Japan’s Imperial Family and the Nobel Peace Center.
Bloom is currently leading Japan Institute’s Path to Peace Campaign, raising $30M to purchaseand transform a former Salvation Army property in Northwest Portland into a world classcampus that brings gardeners, artists, designers, performers, practitioners, craftspeople, andscholars from Japan and around the world to learn and teach their crafts. The restoration ofthe Japan Institute campus will reimagine a 1914 building designed by Portland’s mostimportant architect, A.E. Doyle, including the renovation of a former chapel into a state-of-theart theater in collaboration with Bullseye Glass and renowned architect, Kengo Kuma. This isfirst-ever work in art glass by Kuma, and the theater will be the jewel in the crown of thisamazing complex.

Executive Leadership Bios
Steve BloomBloom has a successful track record of convening people from all around the world, beyond
his work with Japan Institute’s Peace Symposia. In 2018, he brought the InternationalJapanese Garden Conference to Portland – the largest of its kind ever held in the world. In2022, he did the same with the national conference of the American Public Gardens
Association. Bloom’s unwavering commitment and strategic ways of bringing people together
was perhaps best demonstrated through his leadership of the Cultural Crossing Project atPortland Japanese Garden in 2017.
The Cultural Crossing Project was an endeavor that saw the opening of a new $37M Cultural
Village designed by Kengo Kuma. Bloom was instrumental in recruiting the highly sought-afterand prolific architect to the project, which would historically become Kuma’s first public projectin North America. This project changed the landscape of architecture for Portland and Oregon,
as it won more than 20 local, national, and international design awards and recognitions, andwas selected by Architectural Digest as the best designed building project in the history of theState of Oregon. This project has led the way for numerous new Kuma projects in Oregon andacross North America, significantly influencing the architectural portfolio of the continent. TheCultural Crossing Project made Portland a destination for architectural tourism, attracting
designers and enthusiasts from around the world, and making Portland Japanese Garden thenumber one tourist attraction in the city of Portland.
Bloom was a 2008-09 Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Japan, andconcurrently served as Visiting Scholar at Tokyo University of Agriculture. He served as thefirst Fellow in the history of the program to focus on cultural landscapes as a tool for foreign
relations. Following and resulting from his fellowship in Japan, Bloom was the architect of theNorth American Japanese Garden Initiative which over the past decade has: 1) brought
together for the first time in history, the international Japanese garden field through thecreation of the North American Japanese Garden Association, of which he served as founding
Board President; 2) established the International Japanese Garden Training Center at Portland
Japanese Garden, training practitioners from around the globe on the specialized skills ofdesign, construction, and maintenance of Japanese gardens; and 3) created the Japanese
Garden Library and Resource Center, which has amassed the second largest Japanese garden
library collection in the world, second only to Tokyo Agriculture University.
Bloom has received multiple accolades for his contributions that transcend borders. In 2023,
he was the recipient of the Oregon Consular Corps (OCC) Ambassador Award because of his
contributions to Oregon’s economic vitality and quality of life. In 2022, Bloom was the recipientof the Kaneko Kentaro Award by the America-Japan Society for his longstanding contributions
to advancing the relationship between the United States and Japan. In 2020, Bloom andPortland Japanese Garden received the American Public Gardens Association’s highest honor,
the Garden Excellence Award, selected as the top public garden of its peers of 600 publicgardens in more than 20 countries.

Executive Leadership Bios
Steve Bloom

In 2018, on the occasion of its 100th Anniversary, the Garden Society of Japan bestowed forthe first time ever to a foreigner, honorary membership to Bloom because of his outstandingachievements in the promotion of Japanese gardens worldwide. For his promotion ofPortland’s visitor industry, Bloom was presented the “2017 Portland Award” by Portland Mayor
Ted Wheeler. In 2015, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it was awarding theForeign Minister’s Commendations in Honor of the 70th anniversary of the End of World War II.
The award was given to individuals and groups with outstanding achievements in thepromotion of friendship between Japan and the United States. Bloom was awarded thisprestigious recognition along with only 27 other individuals.
Bloom’s vision for excellence, inclusion, and collaboration has not only brought world-classdesign to Oregon and North America but has inspired dialogue between peoples and acrosscultures about the importance of culture, art, and nature in bringing lasting harmony and peace
to ourselves and each other.

Executive Leadership Bios
Lisa Christy

Lisa Christy
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,P O R T L A N D J A PA N E S E GA R D E N

Lisa Christy is a specialist in understanding audiences and how best to communicate withthem. Christy, who ascended to the role of Executive Director of Portland Japanese Garden in2024, previously served as the Chief External Affairs Office at Portland Japanese Garden,
overseeing Membership, Marketing, Communications, and Community Relations. Christy cameto the Garden in 2014 as Director of Marketing and Communications at an auspicious time inits history: the organization was about to embark on an historic expansion led by worldrenowned architect, Kengo Kuma.
During her tenure at the Garden, Lisa Christy grew the department seven times over,oversaw a comprehensive rebranding for the Garden, and directed the Garden’s expansion
communications plan that yielded national & international press. She has expanded theorganization’s community access programs for underserved populations, established acomprehensive digital strategy, and has driven record-setting admission for the Garden yearover year – even during construction.
Prior to working for Portland Japanese Garden, Christy worked at premiere advertising agency
Wieden + Kennedy for nine years where she helped guide award winning advertising campaigns
such as Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” and Proctor & Gamble’s “Thankyou, Mom” Olympic campaign, in addition to Starbucks, Sony, and Travel Oregon. Christy also
worked at OLSON advertising agency in Minneapolis, MN and Bernstein-Rein in Kansas City,MO.
As the daughter of professors in education and advertising, Christy believes passionately ingiving back to the industry through education. In addition to her agency work, she was a fulltime instructor at the University of Tennessee where she was awarded Lecturer of the Year. She
has also consulted and guest lectured on marketing, communications, and media strategy foruniversities and professional groups throughout the United States. Christy holds a bachelor’s
degree in communications from Middle Tennessee State University and a master’s degree inadvertising from Michigan State University. She currently lives in Portland with her husband andson who loves baseball.

Executive Leadership BiosAkihito Nakanishi

Akihito Nakanishi
A R L E N E S C H N I T Z E R C U R AT O R O F
C U LT U R E , A R T , A N D E D U C AT I O N

Akihito Nakanishi is a cultural leader and public diplomacy expert with 19 years of experience ingovernment relations, public communication, artistic exchanges, and cultural programming inJapan.
For 10 years, Nakanishi served as the Cultural Affairs Specialist at the United States Embassy,
Tokyo, where he oversaw a wide spectrum of embassy involvement in cultural, creative, andeducational activities designed to enhance mutual understanding between the United Statesand Japan. In addition to being the principal advisor to the Mission’s Cultural Attaché, he also
served as a cultural advisor to Ambassadors with the responsibility of directly overseeing someof the Ambassadors’ cultural and education projects such as “Ties Over Time” (under Amb.
John V. Roos) and “International Poetry Exchange Project” (under Amb. Caroline B. Kennedy).
Prior to working for the Embassy, Nakanishi worked for three years as Program Director at oneof the major media corporations in Tokyo, followed by a role as Exhibition Director for four years
at a family-owned museum. Drawing upon this extensive knowledge of the arts, he has worked
as an independent art director, producing exhibitions and art fairs (Art Photo Tokyo 2016),
co-producing literary events and festivals (Tokyo International Literary Festival, 2012-2018),
writing dossiers for arts events in specialty publications and newspapers (Bijutsu Techo, KobeShimbun), all while running his own non-profit organization for regional revitalization and youth
empowerment, echovisions.
For his work at the Embassy, Nakanishi has received multiple State Department Awards
including the State Department Meritorious Honor Award (May 2010), U.S. Embassy Japan
Eagle Award (October 2011), and the U.S. Mission Japan Honor Award (October 2016).

Executive Leadership Bios
Hugo Torii

Hugo Torii
GA R D E N C U R AT O R

Hugo Torii is the Garden Curator at Portland Japanese Garden, making him the 10th to takeon this critical role since the Garden opened in 1967. As Garden Curator, Torii helps to keep
Portland Japanese Garden true to its original intent and design, while also allowing it to growand evolve. Torii oversees a team of gardeners and in working with the Chief Curator, is actively
involved in the process of all Garden maintenance, keeping in mind the short term needs as well
as longer term implications.
Prior to becoming the Garden Curator, Torii spent more than 2 years as the Director of Grounds
Maintenance, overseeing the physical aspects of Portland Japanese Garden, its maintenance,and development. In this role, he started several projects that he continues in his current role as
the Garden Curator, including building a training structure for the gardening team and starting
an exchange program with gardeners from other notable gardens, to continue to position
Portland Japanese Garden as a leader and key resource in preserving the art of Japanesegardening.
With a master’s degree in Landscape Design from the Kyoto University of Art and Design, Torii
brings a background of studies and experience in both Japanese gardens, Japanese aesthetics
in horticulture, and floristry. Prior to his roles at Portland Japanese Garden, Torii spent overthree years at Peter Berg Landscape Design in Rheinland Pfalz, Germany, and 12 years at theprominent UEYAKATO LANDSCAPE Co. Ltd., as a gardener and landscape architect in Kyoto,
Japan. During this time, Torii managed projects including the Japanese garden and greeneries
for the nearly 60-acre Keihanna Commemorative Park, the strolling pond garden at the Yosuien Garden, and annual maintenance of pine trees at Nijo Castle, a World Heritage Site listed byUNESCO.

Executive Leadership Bios
Misako Ito

Misako Ito
E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R , J A PA N O F F I C E

Misako Ito is the Executive Director of Portland Japanese Garden and Japan Institute’s Japan
Office in Tokyo. The first person to hold this newly established role, Ito’s rich experience oflaunching grassroots, community-based exchange programs and establishing networks ofintellectual exchanges and international relations have made her a widely respected leader
in cultural diplomacy. As Executive Director, Ito is responsible for establishing a networking
framework that will maintain, strengthen, and add connections between Portland Japanese
Garden and Japan Institute with organizations and individuals in Japan. She also supports
Japan Institute’s three programmatic centers: the International Exchange Forum, International
Japanese Garden Training Center, and Global Center for Culture & Art.
Born and raised in Tokyo, Ito studied abroad at the Australian National University in Canberra
and graduating from Tsuda University in Tokyo with BA (American Studies), she worked at
an American investment bank. She joined Toshi Shuppan, Publishers, where she started her
professional career as an editor of 17 years. In 1988 she was involved in launching GaikoForum, a monthly journal on Japan’s foreign policy and foreign affairs. Ito served as Editor-inChief for the journal beginning in 1999.
In 2004, Ito became the first managing director of the Japan Foundation Information Center(JFIC) at the Japan Foundation, Tokyo Headquarters. She has since held several positions
at the Japan Foundation and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the postsof Director of JICC (Japan Information and Culture Center) at the Embassy of Japan inWashington, D.C., Director of the Japan Foundation Los Angeles, Director of JCC (JapanCreative Centre) at the Embassy of Japan in Singapore. She returned to Japan in 2016 to be
assigned as Secretary General for the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational
Interchanges (CULCON) at the Japan Foundation in Tokyo. In May of 2023, Ito assumed
her director role with Portland Japanese Garden and Japan Institute. She works out of theorganizations’ office, located in the International House of Japan in Tokyo.

Curator Emeritus Bios
Sadafumi Uchiyama

Sadafumi Uchiyama
C U R AT O R E M E R I T U S

Sadafumi (Sada) Uchiyama is Curator Emeritus of Portland Japanese Garden. Before hisretirement, Uchiyama served as Chief Curator from 2021 to 2023. Uchiyama had served as
Garden Curator of Portland Japanese Garden from 2008 to 2021, during which time he helped
to create and integrate the Cultural Crossing Expansion Project. Uchiyama also served as amember on the Garden’s Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2007. He was also Director of Japan
Institute’s International Japanese Garden Training Center.
A fourth-generation Japanese gardener from southern Japan, Uchiyama is devoted to fostering
relations between Japanese gardens in Japan and those outside of Japan. He has been
involved in the development of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) andserves as a Charter Member of its board and programming board.
In 2022, Uchiyama was awarded the Foreign Minister’s Commendation from Foreign Ministryof Japan, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Japanese government, given to thosewith outstanding achievements in international fields. In 2022 he was also honored by theOregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, which hailed him as “aninternationally recognized master artisan of the practice of landscape architecture.”
Uchiyama has taught landscape design courses and lectured on Japanese gardening atcolleges and public gardens throughout the United States and Japan. His writings havebeen featured in Garden Design, Fine Gardening, Inspired House, Luxe Magazine, as well as
professional journals in Japan.
He is a registered landscape architect with a BLA and MLA from the University of Illinois. His
representative projects include renovations of the Osaka Garden; the site of the 1893 Great
Columbian Exposition at Jackson Park in Chicago (from 2000 until present); and the Shofuen of the Denver Botanic Gardens (2001 – 2012). Most recently, he completed the Shoun-Kei
Japanese garden at Sarah Duke Gardens at Duke University (2015). At Portland Japanese
Garden, Uchiyama worked closely with Kengo Kuma to create and integrate new garden spaces
into the Cultural Crossing expansion. The two have continued to work together, collaborating on
the new Rolex Headquarters in Dallas, Texas and other projects in the US.

Curator Emerita Bios
Diane Durston

Diane Durston
C U R AT O R E M E R I TA

Diane Durston is a writer, lecturer, cultural consultant, and educator, who lived for 18 years
in Japan. From 2007 to 2018, Durston was the Arlene Schnitzer Curator of Culture, Art &Education at Portland Japanese Garden, where she has been instrumental in expanding theGarden’s reputation as a center of cultural learning, laying the groundwork for the Garden’s
new International Institute for Garden Arts and Culture. Upon her retirement in 2018, Durston
assumed the role of Curator Emerita.
She is the author of three books and numerous essays and articles on the culture andtraditional way of life in Kyoto. Her book Old Kyoto is now in a second edition and 15th printing.
The New York Times has referred to it as a “Japan travel classic.” Her other books include
Kyoto: Seven Paths to the Heart of the City, an introduction to historic preservation districts inKyoto. She has also contributed essays to the Encyclopedia of Japan, Japan, The Cycle of Life,and the Japan Crafts Sourcebook. Her most recent book, Wabi Sabi: The Art of Everyday Life
was published in 2006.
As a cultural consultant, she has developed on-site cultural programs in Japan introducing
Japanese art, culture, religion, history, and gardens for such organizations as the University ofPennsylvania, the Whitney Museum, the Yale Galleries, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Since returning to the US in 1996, Durston has served as Special Programs Producer for theNational Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where she produced month-long performing arts
festivals in conjunction with the openings of two special exhibitions “Edo: Art in Japan 1615–1868″ in 1998 and of “Golden Age of Archeology in China” in 1999. From 2002–2006, Durston
was Director of Special Projects and later Curator of Education at the Portland Art Museum.
In 2022 it was announced that the Government of Japan has awarded the Order of the RisingSun, Gold and Silver Rays to Durston. This award was established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji andis among the highest honors conferred to civilians. The Consular Office of Japan in Portland
shared that Durston was chosen to be among the recipients of the Japanese government’s
2022 Autumn Commendations “in recognition of her contributions to the introduction ofJapanese culture in the United States, and to the promotion of mutual understanding between
Japan and the United States.”