Aside from issues of COVID-19,
Kanagawa Prefecture has a health promotion policy named “Anti-Mebyo 未病.” “Mebyo” is a new Japanese word which means
“human health condition not healthy nor ill.” Anti-Mebyo policy is created from
the idea of preventive medicine to promote healthy living. The idea is,
normally we do not become sick instantaneously, but after certain period
feeling “I’m not robust enough.” When we can turn such uneasy sense into
something of well-being, we avoid becoming ill. This stage of “before being
sick” is now named “Mebyo” and treating it is anti-Mebyo. As Japan is one of
the most aging societies on the planet, it grows alarmingly our elderly
population who are still alive but very sick for a long period of time before
passing away. It is certainly fun to have healthy golden age rather than
gulping daily handful of pills to quell pains of arthritis, et al. Besides, it
costs tons of money, private and public, to support such frail senior citizens.
Such expenditure can be reduced if people live longer and healthy from the
beginning, i.e. from conception. Hm. Yeah, true. For this anti-Mebyo idea to
make reality, there are 3 fronts: healthy diet, regular physical activity, and
regular engagement in local communities. Kanagawa Prefecture allocates her
budget in these 3 areas to promote healthy life for the residents. (One such is
introducing healthy recipe, for example “Pumpkin soup with salted malt +
Italian granola for breakfast” … I’m not sure if it is effective way of using
tax money. In any case, it looks very tasty.) One of the prefectural projects
for “anti-Mebyo” is a forest in the northwest corner of Oiso Hill 大磯丘陵. It has a name, BiOTOP!A (Biotopia).
 |
A map of BiOTOP!A.
They are
located at several points inside Biotopia,
with English! |
There’s a simple reason why
this forest can be a part of prefectural policy for preventive medicine. The
place is full of greenery and not in deep mountains. So, people in Mebyo stage
can come here and have a nice stroll as a relaxing exercise. The prefectural
office opens a shop there, named Biotopia Marche, where the contractors can
sell local organic foods, cosmetics, toiletries, etc. that can encourage people
to have healthy and fashionable daily life. These merchandize can lower the bar
for Mebyo people to eat well and take a nice bath. In addition, the area of
Biotopia was once the (partial) HDQ of Dai-ichi Life who withdrew in 2011 from
the property. 600,000 km2 of land + a gigantic office tower and a huge
corporate condo were transferred to the prefectural government. The Office was
pondering what to do with this new acquisition, and how to sustain the economic
activity of the area. Preparing a forest park for preventive medicine is a good
idea, isn’t it? Biotopia was opened in 2018. The Prefecture plans to add spa
around 2021, and then establish a hotel that will complete the forest as a
resort for preventive medicine.
 |
The
office tower in Biotopia.
It's now admin of the park + the office for Brooks Holdings Co.
who is a contractor to the management of the park. |
So, let’s walk this week this forest of BiOTOP!A. The access to the place is either by car or by commuter service of Fujikyu-Shonan Bus 富士急湘南バス from Odakyu Shinmatsuda Station 小田急新松田 to Biotopia. (Time table is from here.) … Yeah, you can walk from the station. It’s just 10 minutes bus ride and the office tower remaining in Biotopia is visible from Shinmatsuda Station. But it locates at the top of the hill and the route to the place is paved and busy local road. (It was the office area after all.) It’s not much fun to walk from the station, I think. The place has VERY ample car parking space, and just 5 minutes’ drive from Tomei Oi-Matsuda IC. If you come from Tokyo, driving would be a reasonable option, especially under this COVID-19 concerns. Main parking and the bus stop are next to the office tower. In front of the tower is Biotopia Marche that includes cafés, such as the one produced by French chef-professor Jean-Jacques Borne, and two café restaurants with traditional local menus. If you plan a weekend day here rambling, you can procure your sandwiches, desserts and nice wines / Japanese sake in Marche, or come back to have a lunch here. Er, if you come here by car, no alcohol please. Your driving license will be nulled with drunk-driving, and you face criminal sentence in Japan. 😱
 |
The
bus from Shinmatsuda Station departs
from Bus Stop #1. |
 |
| The
bus stop of Biotopia. |
 |
| The
entrance to Marche. |
 |
Inside
the Marche,
the Prefecture has an exhibition room
promoting anti-Mebyo
life-style. |
 |
| Bakery
inside the Marche. |
Basically, the walking routes
in Biotopia are arranged for those who are not familiar with regular hiking.
Although the majority roads of Biotopia are not barrier-free, once you wear a
nice walking shoes, you can stroll around the forest in a leisurely pace. The
park provides 3 routes for us to enjoy the forest. (Map here.) 2 of them start
from a gazebo situated in front of the Parking #1 next to the office tower.
From there to the north (or to the right), we walk through orange (et al)
orchards and a herb garden to the highest point of Biotopia and a small
Shintoism shrine, named Azumasha 吾妻社.
Within the orchard, there is an archeological grave site, built during 10th
– 60th century BC. It has stones located in circle, though not as
gigantic as Stone Henge. Together with the shrine, this place may have had a
spiritual connotation for millennia … In general, this route is surrounded by
fragrant vegetation, like herbs and orange and plum trees. The gradient of the
slope is the least among the 3 routes of Biotopia. Choose your date of visit,
and you will enjoy a sweet smell of orange blossoms, or lavender on your way.
 |
| The gazebo |
 |
From the gazebo, to the north.
When the weather is fine,
this place is supposed to give us a nice view
of Mt. Fuji and Mt. Hakone … |
 |
| The road is surrounded by
orchard of oranges and plums. |
 |
| Herb Garden |
 |
| It seems to me they have “boar
problems.” |
 |
Azumasha shrine.
It is
surrounded by large trees.
Maybe people felt the existence of forest spirit ... |
 |
| The archeological site is
guarded by a red fence. |
From the gazebo to the south (or
to the left), we first go down rapidly to reach to a forest road. After a
little bit of Satoyama forest with broadleaved ever-green trees, we come to a
well-tended forest of bamboos. Inside, the place has a square bamboo platform
with a notice board saying, “You can use this place to have a nap.” Oh. I guess
it would be a good idea to follow the instruction, especially during spring or
fall, when the temperature is not too hot or cold, without worry for mosquitos.
The bamboo forest is really well-managed, and so, beautiful. It is a nice place
to have a meditation with sounds of forest, and of distant daily life of
Oimachi Town 大井町 on the foot of the hill. Maybe, this is the atmosphere more relaxing
for city rats than in a deep, distant, mountainous forest … The bamboo forest
is sandwiched by the forest of broadleaved trees where birds chirp here and
there. Walking this way and returning to the place of office tower and Marche
may be a good option for beginners of forest walking.
 |
| Going down from the Gazebo |
 |
| A bit of strolling to … |
 |
| A bamboo forest with a bed. |
 |
| The south exit of this bamboo
way is like this. |
The south exit of the road via
bamboo forest is the beginning of the third road in Biotopia. It starts from a
Y-crossing of frequently used motor ways, dives into a forest along the car
road, goes round the edge of nearby ag-community, and returns to the
Y-crossing. It’s the longest route, and the most natural road, almost a hiking
course. It begins with a forest of broadleaved ever-green trees meeting with
several veggie patches here and there. Probably the route was a community road
before motorization so that they are relatively wide. Biotopia situates nice
signposts to show our way. We can feel smell of ordinary country life for the
entire route so that it would be difficult to lose our way. After progressing
for a while in the forest along the car road, we cross it, and enter a wide pedestrian
promenade lined with large trees of Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba). The
road will be spectacular in late autumn with their yellow leaves. The end of
the boulevard is a wide sports field, named B! Field (one for baseball, another
for soccer). From there, we walk a paved road looking Sowa 相和 community of Oimachi Town down
there on our east. It’s a typical Japanese countryside, Satoyama, scenery.
Eventually, we find a large entity ahead of us. It was a corporate condo when
Dai-ichi Life was here. Now it’s an empty box. Please enter a bit the gate of
this building, and find a signpost for walking route on our left. Follow the
direction and go up steps a bit. We find an open space surrounded by cherry
trees. In early spring this is the part of Biotopia where beautiful cherry
blossoms of many kinds surround us. Pass the cherry blossoms space and go into a
well-cared grass field with large camelia trees. This space has a notice board,
“Please take off your shoes and play around here on your bare foot.” In fact,
this space is just next to the starting point we began for this longest route. 😉
 |
| The Y-crossing |
 |
At the Y-crossing,
they have
large male and female maidenhair trees.
It’s a good landmark. |
 |
Cross the road in front of Ginkgos,
then turn left.
The road looks like this. |
 |
| It soon becomes a walking
road, |
 |
with this view point for
Ashigara Plain 足柄平野,
Mt.
Hakone, and Mt. Fuji
(supposed to be … it was cloudy when I’ve been there). |
 |
| The signposts are like this. |
 |
| Please cross here to |
 |
| the promenade of Ginkgos. |
 |
| The end of the boulevard is a sports
field. |
 |
| The view of Sowa Satoyama |
 |
| Could you see a signpost in
front of the vacant building? |
 |
Follow that,
and we’ll meet an
open space surrounded by cherry trees. |
 |
Next to the cherry trees are
this camelia and grass.
Let’s take off our shoes! |
With these COVID-19 things, I
don’t know how long it takes Biotopia becomes a complete anti-Mebyo resort with
spa and hotels. But it already has nice forest walks for Mebyo people …
Biotopia has a program to walk these routes with Forest Therapists. RSVP and
it’s a popular event. You can check their next date from here. If you’re tired
of rat race, you may visit here and experience forest therapy. Someday …
300 Yamada, Oimachi, Ashigara-kami gun, Kanagawa, 258-0015
〒 258-0015 神奈川県足柄上郡大井町山田 300
Phone 0465-85-1113
No comments:
Post a Comment