After the conclusion of the 1894 World's Fair, Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese immigrant and gardener, personally oversaw the modification of the temporary Japanese Village fair exhibit to the permanent Japanese Tea Garden and was official caretaker of the garden from 1895 to 1925. He imported from Japan many plants, birds, and the now famous koi fish, and he more than tripled the size of the garden. After San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition closed, he obtained the large ornamental wooden gate from that fair's Japanese Pavilion.
Following Makoto Hagiwara's death in 1925 his daughter, Takano Hagiwara, and her children became the proprietors and maintainers of the garden.