The Japanese Park is a 2.34-hectare garden in the Al-Farabi district of Shymkent, created on the site of the former Ken Baba park and opened in June 2026. The design is a contemplative landscape built on the principles of harmony, stillness and changing moods, in which each part of the garden explores one motif of Japanese culture: sakura, bamboo, water, stone, the village, the tea tradition and the Zen garden.

Seven zones. Visitors move through a sequence of atmospheres, from bright and festive to quiet and meditative, and finally to water landscapes. The Sakura Garden brings together a sakura alley, a pink square and a "Red Thread" path of torii gates. The Forest of Shadows is a bamboo grove crossed by timber boardwalks with stone lanterns. The Japanese Village features pavilions, a bell and a tea house among terraced hills that evoke tea plantations and rice fields, with a tsukubai water basin. The Zen Core combines a waterfall and cascading stream, a stone garden around a central oak and a meditation grove with hammocks and loungers. The Path of Water runs from a water-lily pond past a bamboo shishi-odoshi fountain, and the Lake of Landscapes, with a red bridge, pavilions over the water, a pier and a small beach, is home to koi carp. An event square at the edge of the park hosts fairs, festivals and exhibitions.

The Japanese Village features pavilions, a bell and a tea house among terraced hills that evoke tea plantations and rice fields, with a tsukubai water basin.

The Zen Core combines a waterfall and cascading stream, a stone garden around a central oak and a meditation grove with hammocks and loungers.

The Path of Water runs from a water-lily pond past a bamboo shishi-odoshi fountain, and the Lake of Landscapes, with a red bridge, pavilions over the water, a pier and a small beach, is home to koi carp. An event square at the edge of the park hosts fairs, festivals and exhibitions.

 Water. Water ties the garden together: 420 metres of streams, three landscape waterfalls and a 600 m² pond. A stream fed from the basins of the park’s old fountains runs over cobbles and flows into the city’s traditional aryk irrigation network, connecting the new garden to the way water has long been used in Shymkent.

Buildings and planting. Fifteen new structures were designed in a single stylistic language, including the red bridge, the tea house and a two-tier pagoda that houses a service block, while eleven existing buildings in the park were restyled to match. Around 100 trees were planted, among them Kanzan cherries, Japanese maples, and pines and junipers shaped in the niwaki technique.

 The park concept received the Gold award at the International Excellence Awards 2026 in the Urban Parks and Placemaking – Landscape category. PrivateHouse Architectural Bureau developed the master plan and landscape architecture of the park.

Project page: https://privatehouse.kz/ph-project/japanese-park/