Start somewhere: Universal Access to Kami-sugetacho Citizen Forest II 上菅田町市民の森

 

Kamisusgetacho Citizen Forest is one of two Citizen Forests located in urban housing area of Hodogaya Ward. It has about 22000m2. As a Citizen Forest, it is in the smaller group. It has no public car-parking. The forest does not have toilet. No convenience store, or the like, nearby. Before visiting the place, please get done the necessary things when you need such facilities. No mini stores near tells this is the area where old families remain holding the land tenure.

The neighbor of the forest

Sure enough, after you get off the nearest commuter bus stop, along the way you can find ancient local religious facilities, like temples, shrine, and monuments for pagan religions. The most convenient bus stop to the forest is Terashitabashi Stop 寺下橋 for

Service 129 (between Sotetsu Tsurgamine Station and Shin-Yokohama Station)

Service 248 (between Sasayama Housing Complex and Senmarudai Housing Complex via Sotetsu Nishiya Station)

Service 256 (between JR Kamoi Station and Kamoi 6-chome)

Service 92 (between Yokohama Station and Sasayama Housing Complex)

Near the stop, there are these statues of Hayagriva.
 It means this road was once a busy utility road
where lots of packhorse drivers
came and went with their cargo.

You get off at Terashitabashi Stop and look to the East. You’ll find a small ridge covered by greenery. That’s the direction we aim for. Enter a small commuter road nearest to the bus stop in the direction of green ridge. Soon we cross a bridge over a small stream, then there is a Y crossing. Just before the bridge there is a small monument for ancient local religion in now a busy rental parking space. Choose the left road at the Y crossing. It is now a steep Yokohama slope. Keep on going and turn left at the second corner from the Y crossing. The road is sandwiched by farmland on our right and a hill of forest on our left. Shortly, Kami-Sugeta Special Support School is over there in front of us, and we’ll find entrances to Kami-Sugetacho Citizen Forest.

Terashitabashi Stop from Route 16 …

or Terashitabashi Stop from Shin-Yokohama Station.
Could you find a small road
turning to the left in this photo?
That’s the entrance to the route.

The scenery from the corner of
the above photo looks like this.

The ancient pagan statues, some 200-300 years old.
Now a car completely blocks the monument.

Cross the pequeño bridge …

Then take the left of the Y crossing.
Our destination is the forest over there.

The second road to the left.
Could you see a signpost?
It says “Kami-Sugeta Special Support School, this way.”
 Bingo.

The road is like this.

On our right is a farm field.

Actually, the forest that went along with us from the corner with the signpost is Kami-Sugetacho Citizen Forest. i.e. It’s on the hill. So, to enter the forest, we have to go up. The first two entrances we find to the forest are in steps, as many other Yokohama Citizen Forests. The uniqueness of Kami-sugetacho Forest is about 30m ahead. There is another entrance that is a paved slope wide enough for wheelchairs and stretchers to go in. Yeah, the route has a so-so slope-angle, but it is not as steep as the entrance slope for Koishikawa Botanical Garden or Wild Bird Park. If a wheelchairer uses a powerful motor, s/he could visit here alone, I guess.

And the left is Kami-Sugetacho Citizen Forest.

A standard entrance to Yokohama’s Citizen Forest.

And this is THE universal access entrance.

Inside the forest, strolling paths go around a peak of the hill (; the map is here). The route has 3 points with steps, but at least one of them has a sloped detour. All the roads are wide enough for wheelchairs. A fly in the ointment could be the paved area is limited in the forest. Still, the roads are well-built hard cray without bumps. I’m not sure if the maintenance of the environment is easy after a torrential rain, but the design of the road sets strategic inclinations here and there for drainages. As this is a very new citizen forest, we have to wait if the intention of landscape architect works well. But at least there is a will, which is a HUGE improvement, I think.

The road is wide.

The route is encircling the hilltop in the middle.

The space is ample for wheelchair maneuvering.

Non-paved but well-built road surface

This is one of the steps inside the route.
It is steep.
Probably,
we have to accept this typical slope of Yokohama.

Still the rest of the route is easy to walk.

The forest itself is a familiar Satoyama forest in Yokohama. It has many coppiced tall trees. It tells the place is remnants of charcoal-baking village life. As these trees are very large, the place must have been neglected for some time after petrol came into our daily life (= no demand for charcoal as fuel). A part of the slope facing the bus stop direction is covered by bamboos that also is evidence for a typical utility forest of yesteryears in Yokohama. As the design of the strolling paths is for universal access, the road is very easy to walk for everybody. There are several benches for visitors to sit and have a cup of tea from their thermos. One of the picnic points has a wide view for Mt. Fuji if the weather is right. I really hope the forest can offer an increased opportunity for people with disability to enjoy backyard nature in our own neighborhood. Kami-Sugetacho Forest is another start for Yokohama’s Citizen Forest.

Very large coppiced tree

Bamboos

Mt. Fuji is here!

Oh, I have to add this. FYI, next to Kami-sugetacho Citizen Forest, there is Kami-Sugeta East Park. The place is not for strolling in greenery, but for a baseball field, a lawned space, and toilets. The entrance to the Park is in the opposite side of the Forest. To borrow toilet there it could take at least 5-10 minutes’ walk from the exit of the Citizen Forest. Good luck.

Kami-Sugeta East Park

If you have any questions about Yokohama’s Green Tax and Green Up Plan, please make a contact with

Strategic Planning Division, Green Environment Bureau, City of Yokohama
横浜市みどり環境局戦略企画課

Phone: 045-671-2712
FAX: 045-550-4093 

Email: mk-kikaku@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Ask, and it will be given to you: Universal Access to Yokohama Citizen Forests, Kami-Sugetacho Citizen Forest I 上菅田町市民の森 I

 

The number of forests where wheelchair people can visit is limited around here. So far in this series, such forests I told you are Koishikawa Botanical Garden (; my post on February 25, 2024) and Wild Bird Park (; my post on last month, April 12, 19, 26). Both are in Tokyo and heavily landscaped places. When we talked about Yokohama’s Citizen Forest, there were none with such facilities. For the sake of argument, Yokohama Nature Sanctuary may have some degree of universal access, to the admin office perhaps. But the large part of its courses are steep slopes and steps. It will not be feasible in the end for people with wheelchairs to have a relaxing experience in forest. Yokohama is a port city. Our city is inevitably very hilly. Flat walking road in nature becomes difficult to find. That’s pity. We people of Yokohama know the issue. People in this case include planners for the Town Hall of Yokohama, who oversee establishing new citizen forests.

A road in Wild Bird Park.
Well, this place is in the end completely man-made.

Steps in Yokohama Nature Sanctuary.
This is a well-managed trekking road,
but for wheelchairs …

Yokohama’s system for Citizen Forests is a unique arrangement nationwide. Landlords with forests are offered options. They can continue having their forest with a reduced tax rate AS LONG AS it is a part of productive farmland. Familiar story in this case is “Who’s continuing the ag business in this society of rapid aging and shrinking population.?” Or they can sell the property to developers for housing, shopping centres, etc. if they want. Unlike ordinary rural areas of Japan, such opportunity is abundant here since Yokohama is a VERY large city with lots of business, and we’re a neighbor to the capital city Tokyo. When the landlord chooses this selling option,

1. They lose their title of landlords often inherited for centuries from the ancestors. Normally they also abandon family business of agriculture which too is hereditary for generations. This is a serious issue for the psyche of landlord’s entire family.

2. Sure, they receive a nice sum of money from their ancestral land which happens to be in rich Yokohama. But, they have to pay rather hefty taxes of many kinds, for land transaction, new usage of land for commercial and/or residential purposes, inheritance, etc. 

3. There is a reputational issue. Their neighbors who can be their neighbors for centuries would say anything they want, if they want, you know?

 A few days ago,
in a farmland adjacent to Niiharu Forest.
The landlord of this place is Non-profit Org
serving for people with disabilities.
They often lend their property NHK
to program production for allotment how-to.
Could you find people in the left of this photo?
They are now filming the spring farm work.

So, the Citizen Forest System offers another option to landlords. They can choose to keep their ancestral forest including farmland with impressively reduced tax rates. When an inheritance incident occurs, the City provides very preferential treatment too. The condition of this favored handling is, the landlord has to allow public to stroll in their land. When they choose this option, development of trekking roads and, when the forest is large enough, providing resting facilities for visitors such as toilets are built by the City. The private property is now Yokohama’s Citizen Forest. After the forest becomes Citizen Forest, the maintenance of landlord’s property is in the hands of Lovers Association. Often the association is formulated by family members and close friends of landlords. But if the area is very wide with many landlords who made a consortium to make the area Citizen Forest, such as Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 with more than 90 landlords, the Lovers Association could welcome complete strangers as volunteer members who love and maintain landlords’ property. The Lovers Association contracted with the landlords via the City and receive municipal grants to run forest management activities. All these processes are funded by municipal Green Tax. A landlord may lose exclusive right for his/her ancestral land, but the ownership remains in the hands of his/her family. This could be a not-so-bad deal. Have you noticed something here? In the entire process, the idea for universal access did not enter unless somebody during the negotiation, like city officers, landlords, or neighbors of the forest, requested the needs for possible wheelchair strollers in the forest.

Spring in Niiharu Citizen Forest.
Basically Niiharu’s trekking roads were once
commuter roads for locals before gasoline cars came.
They are narrow, hilly, and of course not paved.
i.e. Difficult for wheelchair users to come in.

Well, to be fair for the people of mountainous Yokohama creating Citizen Forest, I must say it WAS so. I mean, a “past tense.” Last February, it was opened the very first Yokohama’s Citizen Forest where the development of the Citizen Forest was intentionally designed for the Universal Access. It is Kami-Sugetacho Citizen Forest上菅田町市民の森 , opened on February 27, 2026. The forest is located right next to the Kami-Sugeta Special Support School. Special support school system of Japan is educational arrangement for kids who need particular procedure, such as continuous medical care, to attend for school diplomas starting from kindergarten to high school. Yokohama has 13 such municipal schools, among which 6 schools are for kids requiring wheelchairs or stretchers. Kami-Sugeta School is one of them. For the development of a Citizen Forest right next to their campus, the school advised the landlord and the people from the City Hall. The product is this newly opened Citizen Forest. Next week, let’s visit the place with wheelchair access in bumpy Yokohama. The forest has a viewpoint for Mt. Fuji. 😊

Kami-Sugeta Special Support School

If you have any questions about Yokohama’s Green Tax and Green Up Plan, please make a contact with

Strategic Planning Division, Green Environment Bureau, City of Yokohama
横浜市みどり環境局戦略企画課

Phone: 045-671-2712
FAX: 045-550-4093

Email: mk-kikaku@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Tis the Season … Wasps are busy

 

In Yokohama, we’re talking about roller-coaster temperatures at the beginning of May. From the end of April to the beginning of May, we Japanese have a “Golden Week” of consecutive national holidays. It is supposed to be a continuation of fine days with low humidity and so-so hot temperature. Now we expect the most comfortable season of year. This year … low pressure systems are coming from the west, i.e. the Eurasian Continent, often with still cold air, and the south, i.e. Pacific Ocean, with hot air from the equator. Just a day or so of fine days are followed by cold rain. A “fine” day becomes dead-hot summer in some parts of our neighborhood. Cold rain morning requires winter coats. What’s happening? we murmur.

Even though, our forests are growing with bursts of many hues of green. Whateva. Tis the season of refreshingly jolly and beautiful nature. … Er, maybe some dangerous creatures (for us) have the same opinion. Please be careful when you stroll in forests in southern Kanto region in early May. Poisonous snakes like Mamushi (Japanese pit viper) and Yamakagashi (Tiger keelback) become active. Unless somebody releases Cobra or something, these two snakes are the only poisonous snakes in mainland Japan. (Okinawa and south islands of Kagoshima have super-aggressive Habu snakes.) Unless you make them surprise, or intentionally attack them, they will not bite you. So, be careful during your trekking by telling them you’re coming. Chatting with your friends, ringing bear bells, carrying radio, or simply drumming the bush before you with a long stick (like Nordic poles) would work. Despite all the precautions taken, you could be bitten. In such a case, please call 119 (Japanese emergency number) immediately and wait for the professional rescuers to come. Before they arrive, it could save your life by taking standard emergency procedures on site, including rinse the bite wound immediately with soap and fresh water, rest in a posture to make patient’s heart in higher position than the wound, and drink lots of water as poison of snakes could cause dehydration. All these measures are standard by Japan Red Cross, 2020 First Aid Guideline.

Tiger keelback I’ve met recently.
It was busy going to a pond of tadpoles
rather than attacking humans.
Have a nice lunch, mate.

Another danger of animal bites around Yokohama is hornets. From late April to May, the queen hornet is busy building her empire castle in bush. When you’re strolling along a trekking road more or less enclosed by bushes in Yokohama’s forest, DO NOT drum these shrubs especially in late spring to early summer. The typical nest of hornets during this season has a size of adult’s fist, and looks like a mushroom hanging in a bush.

This is the hornets’ nest!

It’s difficult to notice them quickly. On the other hand, the number of hornets per nest at this time of the year is still not much and they are busy making their home bigger. Unless you smash the nest suddenly (and unintentionally maybe), they will not attack you. “Don’t stir up a hornets’ nest,” and leave the site quietly. If you know a contact info for the people who manage the forest, such as Niiharu Satoyama Welcome Centre, please let them know ASAP you’ve encountered the nest in such-a-such corner of the forest. They will take care of the “thing” quickly … I think it was before I started this blog there was big nation-wide news from Niiharu Citizen Forest. A group of visitors to Niiharu Forest was attacked by hornets, and a person died. Since then, people in Niiharu are attentive to the risk, so do the rest of the forests near the human settlements in Japan. In any case please be careful always in a forest.

Thank God, we in Yokohama do not have risks of encountering bear. But in the other parts of Japan, including Yadoriki Area of Kanagawa Prefecture, there are several information about bears. The latest official announcement of the Prefecture is here, and the up-to-date aggregation site of private internet posting is here. The situation is not serious so far this year, it seems to me. Anyway, better safe than sorry. Please carry bear bells. These days it is recommended to carry several with different frequencies, if possible. They can tell bears you’re coming even if you’re walking in the forest of conifers then move to a road along a babbling steam. The bells can also let the bears think you’re not alone. And a can of bear deterrent is MUST-HAVE. Having said that, last year, I tried to obtain a bear spray in early summer, and found all were sold out around here. It might be wiser if you start early to procure such essential item for walking in Japanese mountains. Safe outdoors.

Ramulus mikado. No harm from it. 😇

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with

Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

Comfy: Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park, III 東京港野鳥公園

 

We enter the Wild Bird Park from only one gate. In front of the ticket booth on our right we find small another entrance. (The map of the Park in English is here.) It leads us to the main part of West Park where rice paddies and a small freshwater pond locate and volunteers are active for tending the place. There are two observation-hides by the pond for bird watching. Also kids can ask the admin office to borrow an insect net and a cage to hunt butterflies et al around the rice paddies, provided they release their catch after the observation. (Private nets and cages are prohibited.) Even though we had “semi-draught” this winter, the pond kept water and small flocks of migratory water birds stayed here over the winter. As the West Park was opened first in the making of Wild Bird Park, the reclaimed ground here could be the most stable.

Admin Office with ticket booths

The entrance to main part of West Park

Turning left in front of the ticket booth, there is a wide lawn field with a pergola. This is also a part of West Park. The space is surrounded by probably planted trees of garden variety and a chimney that is for venting the gas from underground, i.e. the foundation material for reclamation = ancient garbage of Tokyo. Including this space, the paths for the West Park are all more or less flat and easy to walk, including for wheelchair users. The atmosphere of the place is open and incredibly relaxed. It’s easy to forget we’re in the middle of big warehouses for Tokyo. Though, at the south-east corner of the open field we are suddenly reminded our neighbor is Ota Wholesale Market for Megalopolises stomach. There, a long bridge passes over the industrial road entering the Market. We have to cross it to arrive the East Park.

Open field

The road circling the open lawn field

The bridge is big and long.

The beginning of East Park

East Park is larger with a substantial mass of water, fresh or otherwise. Before opening the entire area of East Park in 2018, the Metropolitan Government did massive civil engineering work to stabilize the water area. When I’ve been there this winter, I could not see the erosion from the sea to the park. Rather, because of the draught, the freshwater pond was almost dried up. The rangers for Wild Bird Society of Japan told us this winter they could not record meaningful visit of water birds there. That’s sad. The area for freshwater ponds in East Park is large. It also situates almost side-by-side with the sea water of Tokyo Bay. I imagine environmental wise the biota of East Park is very interesting. The dry grasses in the freshwater area were still common reeds and bulrush. The existence of Chines silver grass was limited … no serious aridification yet. Let us keep crossing our fingers the wetland there remains even with the climate change …

All dried up this winter for
the freshwater pond in the East Park

The freshwater part and tidal pond, sitting side by side

The tidal pond

The strolling path in East Park from the bridge is more or less one way. It should be difficult to lose. There are several work paths branching out from this wide road. Such roads are close　 to the public with barricade, but a couple of days in a year the Park hold events for the visitors to enter the path, including the Bay shore, circling the entire East Park. Please check their HP if you’re curious about the event. Still, walking the year-round open way is interesting enough to experience the “man-made natural” forest. Some of the trees are apparently horticulturally planted, but the majority sprouted some 50 years ago and has grown big this much by 2026. The undergrowth is also “wild.” There are some patches where it looks the management tried to make this route “elegant park way” but the power of weeds easily overrode the human intention. The road itself is wide enough and well managed for a pickup truck would come and go, i.e. wheelchair users can come. Normally our neighborhood is hilly. Handicapped people are often denied access to enjoy the forest. Not here!

It’s impressive these trees naturally
came out decades ago …

The “wild” forest surrounds the tidal pond.

Along the open path in East Park, there are 4 observation hides/blinds for birdwatching. All are sturdy wooden structure facing to the water. However, this winter due to the draught, East Observation Blind to the freshwater pond did not work as the intended site. *Sigh* The other 3 points are all facing water connected to Tokyo Bay. You can come here and stay as much as you like to admire birds. Caution: the entire Park is popular for birdwatchers in Megalopolis Tokyo. Securing a nice seat in any observation hide could be a matter of fierce competition. Please be polite to your fellow watchers whichever camera and lenses you carry. Thank you. 😊

A sight from Maehama Tidal Flats Observation Blind.
This body of water is really Tokyo Bay.

Yet, one of the most comfortable birdwatching hide is in a big building that is Nature Center standing on the shore of the tidal ponds. This is the place where the Wild Bird Society stations. It also has nice toilets, vending machines for snacks, lots of educational displays for the nature of Wild Bird Park, and a playroom for toddlers to crawl around. Moreover, inside has powerful air-conditioning, i.e. cool during boiling summer and warm in dead winter. It has very large glass windows that make us possible sitting on comfy benches to observe the entire tidal ponds. Wheelchair users also can birdwatch there without bumping shoulders with others. I’ve been there in January and found the arrangement super comfortable. Yeah, it is no-no to have lunch on observation benches, but inside the building there is a corner where we can open our sandwiches. Also, there is no time restriction to sit. It seems to me the regulars of bazooka-sized camera lenses situate themselves by the window and wait for a long time to capture “this” moment of osprey, etc. hunting over the tidal pool. Knowing enough technique to refine the photo taken in this condition, it can produce a satisfactory picture of birds, I guess.

The Main Entrance to Nature Center

Inside

A photo I took from the building.
Could you see there is a bird resting on the post over there?

I’ve found a Siberian sand plover from the room.
It was cute.

So, the birdwatching Park artificially created for a wholesale market provides us with completely artificial observational blind to admire nature. Er, I know. You will say the point for enjoying forest is to feel winds rustling trees while smelling the air. Yup. But sitting for hours to wait for a small bird to come does not have to require endurance game, don’t you think? Anyway, this is the season for Sandpipers and Plovers in Wild Bird Park. On May 17, the Park will have an annual festival for families to enjoy. Some of the programs, like free distribution of blueberry saplings, require reservation. The acceptance of reservation starts on May 8th. Please check their HP for detail. Oh, one more thing. Tokyo has another seaside park with a similar story near the border to Chiba Prefecture. If you’re interested in the place, please try. The name of the Park is Tokyo Metropolitan Kasai Marine Park 葛西臨海公園.

Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park 東京港野鳥公園管理事務所

3-1 Tokai, Ota Ward, Tokyo, 143-0001
〒143-0001　東京都大田区東海3-1

Phone: 03-3799-5031
FAX: 03-3799-5032

You can send an enquiry to them from here: https://www.tptc.co.jp/support/contact/park/yatyo