Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre, Japanese garden in Cowra, Australia.

Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre is a 5-hectare garden with rocky hillsides, waterfalls, streams, and lakes that provide an environment for numerous aquatic birds to thrive. The complex includes a cultural centre and spans 3 kilometers of pathways that wind through miniaturised Japanese landscapes with mountains, waterfalls, and traditional buildings.

In 1960 Japan decided to rebury its war dead from across Australia at Cowra, where 231 Japanese soldiers killed in the 1944 breakout from the nearby prisoner-of-war camp already lay; the cemetery was ceded to Japan in 1963. Cowra Tourism Development proposed a Japanese garden in 1971, Japan backed it in thanks for the respectful treatment of the dead, and the garden opened in 1979, with a second stage in 1986.

The garden hosts an annual Sakura Matsuri in September marking the arrival of spring, along with Girl's Day and Boy's Day festivals. Tea ceremonies, demonstrations and workshops in calligraphy, origami and Ikebana are held here, and an open-air tea house sells Japanese delicacies and sweets.

The grounds offer well-marked pathways suitable for different fitness levels, from short strolls to longer walks through the garden areas. There are plenty of rest spots and viewpoints where visitors can stop to observe the landscape and bird life.

The garden was a gesture of thanks: the Japanese government backed the 1971 proposal partly in recognition of how Cowra's Returned and Services League members had tended the Japanese War Cemetery after World War II. The cemetery, holding 231 soldiers killed in the 1944 breakout, was ceded to Japan in 1963.