Abstract Japanese gardens are an enduring world heritage. These gardens have long been the subject of analysis by landscape architects, and archaeological explorations of Japanese gardens have produced critical data about their longevity, character, and expansion from Japan to the globe. Many such gardens have been reclaimed, renovated, or restored, and archaeology is a critical step in doing so accurately and sustainably. Gardens in Japan have their roots in Shinto shrines, places that are set aside for worship of nature spirits and that are demarcated by rocks and trees. Like much of Japanese culture, gardens are also heavily influenced by ideas that came from the Silk Road, especially Buddhism and Chinese philosophy and design. Yet archaeology has made it clear that naturalistic gardens were also being created in Japan by at least the Kofun period (250–538 ce), prior to the first Chinese-style palace gardens. Excavations of early Japanese gardens show how the more rectilinear forms that were inspired by Chinese gardens became more naturalistic over time—for example, by better approximating local beaches in their water features. In Japan, gardens became critical features in many Buddhist temples, whether by evoking paradise or serving as landscapes for meditative practices. Nobles continued to push garden art through their innovations in tea and strolling gardens. By the time Japan opened to global trade and travel, Japanese gardens were a millennia-old expression of biophilic design that inspired admiration and replication. Japanese gardeners and others inspired by Japanese design began building Japanese-inspired gardens throughout the world. Some of the best known—if often short lived—were gardens associated with World’s Fairs. But other gardens in the Japanese diaspora were of the more humble sort, especially those associated with the ten incarceration sites where Japanese Americans were forced to live during World War II. As actively studied heritage sites, these locations have added tremendously to understanding how the expertise and aesthetics of Japanese immigrants and their descendants were expressed during times of cultural stress. Both high-style and vernacular expressions of Japanese-style gardens require careful approaches—whether for renovation or study—in order to unlock their data and landscape potential.