The Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden sits beside Henderson Lake on the south side of Lethbridge, a 3.75-acre traditional Japanese garden built in 1967. The pavilions were prefabricated in Japan and assembled in Lethbridge, and the garden was designed by Japanese landscape architect Tadashi Kubo with the explicit purpose of honouring the Japanese-Canadian community that had been displaced to work in Alberta's sugar beet fields during World War II.
The garden is genuinely beautiful at any time of year, but especially in spring when the cherry trees and crab apple trees blossom, and in autumn when the maples turn. Pruned trees, gravel pathways, stone lanterns, and reflecting pools create a landscape of careful understatement. It is the kind of place that repays slow walking — the design reveals itself gradually, with different compositions appearing from different angles. The pavilions can be rented for weddings and events. Open seasonally with an admission fee.