Long before Alix Harada was a park ranger, she remembers coming to the garden with her mom.
"Growing up, I remember when these ponds were absolutely full," Harada said.
The city's park department says the ponds have been dry since a flood of 2017 when the pump houses were damaged.
And, since then, the cost for repairs has been slow.
"When things happen, we get to see those effects for a while after-recovery takes time," Harada said.
One year ago Park officials discovered 50 koi were stolen from their private holding tank.
Harada tells us there's no further information on their whereabouts to date.
In 1965, 300 koi were gifted to San Jose from the city of Okayama, Japan.
"So it's actually such a privilege to continue to be part of the history of these parks in such a personal way," Harada said.
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50 koi stolen from SJ's Japanese Friendship Garden
Not every pond is empty, one out of the three is still full of Koi fish that are descendants from the ones that were gifted back in the 1960's.
We spoke with park goers to hear their thoughts on the garden.
Kyana Vaneijnvhoven is visiting from the Netherlands.
"Well we were wondering what happened actually that there was no water," Vaneijnvhoven said.
She saw pictures of the park online and thought it would be a great place for social media pictures.
"Yeah, it didn't match expectations, I would say but it's still nice though," Vaneijnvhoven said.
Soon-to-be Oak Grove High School graduate Darrius Misaalefua said the garden is a beautiful backdrop. He looks forward to seeing the ponds restored.
"It's too beautiful not to be up to what it could be, you know, and people come here and if they see the water they just want to keep coming back and I feel like that's just the best for the park," Misaalefua said.
Harada said repairs for the ponds is in the budget for next year.
In the meantime, people can still enjoy what the Japanese style tea garden has to offer.
"This is a beautiful meditative walking garden. It feels like we're somewhere completely different away from the hustle and bustle of all the traffic," Harada said.