Tokyo Natural Park

Tokyo boasts a diverse and rich natural environment with extensive climate zones, encompassing the subalpine area around Mt. Kumotori, the highest peak in Tokyo, and the subtropical Ogasawara Islands, the World Natural Heritage site. Not many people may be aware that, although Tokyo is highly urbanized, about 36 percent of the entire area of the metropolis is designated as natural parks by the national and the metropolitan governments.
No other capitals in the developed countries are blessed with such diverse and rich natural environments. Given the growing importance of biodiversity conservation, the value of Tokyo’s natural parks that nurture many species of flora and fauna is also heightening.
One of the remarkable aspects of Tokyo’s nature is that it has been closely related to people’s lives and activities. Timbers harvested from the mountains in the Tama area were tied into rafts, which were flowed down the Tama River to Edo, where these lumbers were essential for constructing the town. The development of Tokyo has been supported by the abundant natural resources. While prospered forestry helped the favorable forest environments to be conserved, the diverse natural resources that extend from the mountainous area of Tama to the islands have fostered today’s unique characteristics and rich cultures of respective localities.
The natural parks in Tokyo can be dubbed as a treasure trove, packed with a lot of attractions—hot springs, monuments of mountain worship, unique local food cultures, and the industries and tradition rooted in nature, in addition to the rich natural surroundings.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has formulated a comprehensive vision for natural parks, the first such vision in the country to ensure these diverse and rich nature and cultures of Tokyo are passed down to the next generation. The vision should also encourage many people to know and visit the natural parks to experience what these treasures have to offer.