Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden

During the second world war Japanese Canadians were removed from the British Columbia coast, dispossessed and sent inland, and many were sent to work the sugar beet fields around Lethbridge. In 1967 the city and the Japanese Canadian community built this garden together for Canada's centennial as an act of reconciliation; the name combines the Japanese words for Japan and Canada with the word for friendship. Tadashi Kubo of Osaka designed it. The pavilion and bell tower were built in Japan of Hinoki cypress without nails, shipped over and reassembled. A bell cast in Kyoto is rung by visitors.

What you actually see

• The nailed-free pavilion - Hinoki cypress buildings made in Japan and reassembled.
• The Kyoto bell - a cast bell visitors are invited to ring.
• The garden types - dry rock, pond and prairie-adapted planting in one layout.
• The reconciliation story - the internment history the garden responds to.

When to go

May to October; the garden closes for winter apart from a December lantern event. Autumn colour in the maples is the strongest season. Tea ceremonies run on a schedule.

Honest expectations

Closed for most of the winter. The garden is compact and takes about an hour. Prairie climate limits which Japanese species can be grown, so the planting is adapted rather than authentic throughout.

Nearby

The Lethbridge Viaduct lies west; Fort Macleod is northwest.