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May 9, 2000 Nemoto-yama Park, Moka City, Japan
This park has no heavy-hitter natural wonders. It lives permanently obscured by the all-darkening shadows of national parks and forest land in Nikko*, Oze* and Nasu*. Its facilities are minimal. If you were to suggest that international tourists might flock here to view the wildlife, the listener would wonder when you had gotten off medication, and whether you had immediate plans to get back on. None. The. Less. This small, out of the way rural park in a rural prefecture perfectly illustrates several of the most important Fermata paradigms for developing nature tourism:
Golden Week* turned out to be a holiday that everyone needed a holiday to recover from. A crazed seventeen year-old hijacked a bus, knifed a passenger to death and wounded another…another teenager murdered an elderly woman "to see what murder felt like"…two adults in Saitama forced a third to drink to whiskey and take a drug overdose in order to collect on a life insurance policy…historic Jakoin Temple in Kyushu was torched by an arsonist…a cult leader was indicted for defrauding believers of $870 million…an itinerant divorcee choked her son to death in a park with a riceball that he couldn’t finish…It was a golden week for sensational news, but that’s about all. On this cool, clear, spectacular Tuesday morning
we left Utsunomiya for Nemoto-yama
Park*, about thirty minutes east. For the duration of the drive we
followed a gentleman in a utility van who demonstrated why Japanese homes
are so clean and the roadsides so filthy. First he emptied his ashtray
at a stoplight. A bit later he tossed out several chewing gum wrappers.
"Sure," she replied, "as long as you’re willing to part with a toe or two. Motorists dump so many bottles and cans in the paddies that, ankle-deep in mud and unable to see where you’re stepping, you’ll lop off your foot." Nemoto-yama Park was somewhat hard to find, even for someone who has been in and around the area for fourteen years. But the search was well worth the effort because we were the only people in the park. The obscurity of the place also promotes something that the vast number of nature tourists avidly seeks: authenticity. The park covers about fifty acres, and was purchased by Moka City from a private landowner. Prior to selling the land, it was obviously timbered, perhaps, judging from the thoroughness of the cut, with dynamite. The cedars* along the first trail we took didn’t look much more than five or six years old, which would coincide with the date that the city acquired the park. Anyway, it was perfectly silent except for the birds, and the air had the pungently invigorating smell of cedar after a rain. The shower of the night before had left everything freshly slicked and smelling clean–and the giant black shoots from the Mosodake bamboo, interspersed with the cedar, looked as if they were growing as you watched. These massive spears have been known to grow so quickly and with such force that they penetrate the floor of old-style homes, piercing the tatami and appearing smack in the middle of the living room. The fact that the shoots were there at all indicated that the users respected the park, because the Mosodake shoot is a spring delicacy that people avidly dig up, boil and eat. Signs prohibiting smoking and clearly telling people not to steal the flora also demonstrated a pro-active approach to preservation. Along the route, signage displayed large drawings of different birds, along with explanations of their calls and habitat. Let’s take a look at Nemoto-yama Park from the standpoint of the Fermata principles listed above.
Likewise, the Daurian
Redstart can be found virtually anywhere. But the park prominently
displays it on its informational brochure, effectively linking the park
with the fantastic orange coloring of this striking bird. A Brown-eared
Bulbul and Siberian
Meadow Bunting also get top billing, despite their dime-a-dozen
frequency. The crucial point is that all of these birds, as well as
the insects, flowers and trees are beautiful to Moreover, the park takes an excellent shotgun approach to nature viewing. Lacking a single knockout item, it presents a smorgasbord of attractive and colorful things to look at. We spent a big chunk of time just watching a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker loaf on the job. Rather than bore holes, he flitted from mushroom outgrowth to mushroom outgrowth on the trunks of the park’s cherry trees, lazily snatching up the hapless bugs that had secreted themselves down in the crevices. And speaking of cherry trees, Nemoto-yama has a particularly wonderful one, the Gyoiko. This variety, as opposed to the omnipresent Yoshino cherry, puts out blossoms that are pale green, a striking contrast to the normal cherry petal shade of delicate pink. Tadpoles are notorious for not living in the soil. Crayfish have the darnedest time finding food out on the lawn. Dragonfly larvae just haven’t evolved sufficiently to do their metamorphosing atop an asphalt parking lot. So when your facility lacks a certain class of critter, you can either make the long trek to the mountain or make the mountain come to you. Nemoto-yama Park chose the latter approach. Next to the nature center there’s a special tadpole pond for Amagaeru frogs. A pond habitat in a different part of the park provides just the right habitat for Mushigaeru frogs. Crayfish get their own little piece of the ‘hood. Dragonflies have a small marsh. With a bit of elementary biology, animals that people like to watch, and that particularly fascinate small children, can be lured into even the most monoculture of environments. In fact, understanding the concept of "attract what’s absent" is critical to not only putting together an interesting nature center, but to continuing it. Like amusement parks, natural attractions face competition from other sites, and it’s never enough to build something and just "let it be." What worked for the Beatles won’t work in a world of ever-sharper competition for tourist dollars. But unlike amusement parks, which can only keep abreast of the competition by spending huge amounts of money in order to concoct wilder, more unnatural freak attractions, nature viewing areas can boost their plant, insect and animal variety simply by adding habitat. Many of these improvements can be done extremely cheaply, and can be added to as time goes by. It’s hard to get a new rollercoaster up and running with only a third of the necessary track, but a hummingbird park can get started with nothing more than a few cheap feeders and nectar. Luring in different birds, insects and marine life, planting vegetation and similar "capital improvements" are also either self-maintaining or require minimal upkeep. Trees, once planted and watered, are generally competent to sink their own roots and throw out new leaves. The maintenance associated with Dumbo’s Flying Machine requires just a bit more human intervention–and expense. Despite putting together what qualifies as an excellent, small-scale nature facility, Nemoto-yama lacks a clear "improvement ethic." The park is missing numerous opportunities to improve what it already does well. A key example is the information offered by the nature center. Fermata’s research has shown that birdwatchers want current information on what they can see and where they can see it. Nemoto-yama could easily enhance its activities by posting a daily bird bulletin. Peak seasons should have their own brochures, noting not only the species but also the types and sites of deciduous trees that put on particularly good color shows in the fall. Weekend birding tours could boost interest in the facility. Nemoto-yama is a very well-kept secret. Problem is, the park would like to be well-known. To its credit, Moka City features the park on its website, and you can get brochures at the nature center as well as at the birding center in Igashira Park. It also has nature outreach programs with local elementary schools that include trail walks and tadpole watching. But the gap between providing brochures and actively trumpeting who you are and what you do is a huge one. The park has no organized publicity campaign or major events, and is hardly unique in this respect. This stems partly from the character of parks and the people who run them: they see themselves as people who provide a service, not as ad-men or sales reps pushing a product. So in practice they interact with the public on a you-ask-me-I’ll-tell-you-the-answer basis. Unfortunately, most of the public has no idea what to ask, and may only have a cursory interest in the nature facility to begin with. In a business the sales staff would tell people about the product, give them opportunities to view it or try it out, and then encourage them to buy it. Computers are a great example–or at least they used to be–of people purchasing a product they knew next to nothing about, pressured simply by the need to "get online" and effective sales. A professional guide staff, by actively approaching visitors and scheduling regular, daily birding tours through the park, would be a commonsense approach to actively soliciting repeat business. And as any business will confirm, repeat business is the best kind there is. Birding contests , periodic ad campaigns in the nearby larger cities, bumper stickers, posters and calendars are all proven techniques for increasing awareness about a facility. After leaving the park we passed by a freshly ploughed rice paddy that was providing a Cordon Bleu lunch for a group of seven Pacific Golden Plover. I watched them at first from a distance and couldn’t help but be impressed by the alertness with which they fed. A few stabs in the mud and then heads up, watching, listening. When did humans lose their innate sense of alertness and caution? Probably as soon as they moved into cities… Moving the car up a bit closer the plovers took notice, but didn’t go over to the other side of the paddy. Then a farmwife came clunking by on her rusty bicycle and the whole group stopped momentarily, taking her in as she passed. Two of the plovers seemed to be acting as the main guards; they stopped sooner and waited until longer to resume feeding. Finally I crept the car to within fifty yards and the birds reacted, taking long pauses between digs and eyeing my car and my binoculars with much more distrust than they had watched the farmwife. Slowly, with the two leaders no longer feeding at all, the flock gradually moved over to the other side of the paddy. The beauty of these birds! And to think that people aspire to art when these colors and plumages and patterns are ready-made, staring you right in the face! A couple more moments passed and they all climbed out of the mud and rested on the strip of grass separating the paddies, obviously concerned enough about my loitering to cease feeding. Feeling guilty about disturbing their lunch, but appreciative for the art exhibit they had just put on, I put the car in gear and drove on. Getting there:By carTake the Tohoku Expressway from Tokyo, exit at the Kanuma Interchange. Follow this road for about eighteen kilometers, it narrows and finally hits a T-intersection. Turn right, and then go left at the next traffic signal. You’ll cross a bridge over the Kinugawa River, go up a hill and hit another traffic signal. Turn right, which puts you on Highway 408. After a couple of kilometers the road will fork; bear to the left. There’s a Family Mart convenience store on the left. Follow this road, not 408 which bears to the right, for about 4 km. You’ll come to a traffic light; turn left and it takes you into the town of Moka. A landmark to look out for is a high school on your left; the traffic signal is about a kilometer past that. Once you’ve turned left at the light, the road winds into the city. After you cross the train tracks, turn right at the second or third signal; either one is okay. Go up two more signals and turn left; this is the "main" street of Moka City. If in doubt, stop and ask someone directions to the Shiyakusho, or City Hall. Continue along this road–it’s the one that the City Hall is on–for about 3km and you’ll see the sign for Nemoto-yama just before you cross the Kogaigawa River. If you cross the river you’ve gone too far. The sign’s in Japanese and not very big and easy to miss. The surest method is to ask directions if you’re unsure. Parking is right there at the left-hand turn into the park. By trainYou’ve got be a glutton for punishment to attempt this one by public transport. From Tokyo take the Tohoku Line or the Tohoku Shinkansen to Oyama. Transfer to the Mito Line and get off at Shimodate Station. Transfer to the Moka Line and get off at Moka Station. From Moka take a taxi, it’s about ten minutes and costs about \2000 yen one way. Estimated time is three hours if you use the Shink out of Tokyo, and four hours if you use the Tohoku Line. Trip du Jour, May 9, 2000
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