TRAVEL Japan’s National Parks
EXPLORING THE GREATEST EIGHT OF JAPAN’S STUNNING NATIONAL PARKS In 2016, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (MOE) announced plans to boost awareness of, and inbound visitor numbers to, Japan’s national parks. They specifically targeted eight of the country’s national parks in the National Park Step-up Program 2020, namely Akan-Mashu, Towada-Hachimantai, Nikko, Ise-Shima, Daisen-Oki, Aso-Kuju, Kirishima-Kinkowan and Keramashoto.
nally tick them all off the list. Some of the parks I’d visited before but, in most cases, without knowing it.
“Japan has an extraordinarily diverse range of natural habitats. The national parks of Japan have highland; lowland; marine, temperate and tropical climates; marshland; volcanoes: you name it, they’ve got it. The eight parks that the MOE chose to be part of this project, To Fully Enjoy National Parks, represent a complete In 2017 and 2018, British free- cross-section of those climatic lance photographer and Housing zones and flora and fauna, from Japan magazine Assistant Editor Hokkaido to Okinawa. Alfie Goodrich visited seven of these eight national parks as part “I hope these pictures, just a few of an initial fact-finding and con- from the many thousands I shot sultation process carried out on during my visits to seven of the behalf of the MOE by the JTB and parks, help get the message out about what a wonderful natural National Parks Authority. and human resource the national “Japan has 34 national parks,” says parks of Japan represent. Goodrich, “and I’ve always been a little surprised at the number “In 2021, Japan’s national parks of people I meet, both Japanese will be celebrating their 80th anand foreign, who know very little niversary. Now is as good a time about them. Having the opportu- as ever to start exploring them … nity to visit and photograph the and don’t forget to take your camfrontline parks in the MOE’s step- era!” up programme was, frankly, a job Find out more about the National from heaven. Parks of Japan here: “In the course of my living and working in Japan, I’d visited many https://www.env.go.jp/en/naof its 47 prefectures and my work ture/nps/park/index.html for this project meant I could fi-
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