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

Pls. Visit There NOW for Sandpipers and Plovers!: Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park, II 東京港野鳥公園

 

So, I tell you the beginning of the place. The bayside area of Tokyo, and to Yokohama’s Kan’nai 関内 area for that matter, was all shoal as a delta created by old Arakawa River 荒川. The reclamation of the swampy ground began long years ago, including the biggest and oldest civil engineering project in the middle of the 15th century by Ota Dokan 太田道灌. Come to think of it such endeavor is still going on. The bayside is expanding the land not only for Tokyo, but also Chiba and Kanagawa Prefectures … more than 600 years of human intervention … Yet, 60 years ago, the area around Haneda Airport was still a shoal. There were several fishing villages where fishermen engaged in nori cultivation. They caught fishes for Edomae sushi. Though especially after the end of World War II when Japanese economy entered the high growth period, the villages were rapidly encircled by huge plants for heavy industries. Haneda Airport was expanding as THE international gate for Tokyo. These conditions produced serious sea pollution. Fishing as a livelihood became difficult. Former fishing villages were now a part of Ota Ward, one of Tokyo’s special districts. Fishermen changed their business.

The moat surrounding the Imperial Palace is
the remnants of old delta that became Tokyo.
This part was reclaimed by Tokugawa Shogunate
 during the 16^th century.

Meanwhile, Tokyo was becoming more and more megalopolis. Before the wholesale food markets, including Tsukiji Market, were located around Akihabara 秋葉原 due to the historical legacy from the 16th century. By the second half of the 20th century, everything became cramped for Tokyo’s young (oh, yeah, it was so before) stomach. In the 1950s the Metropolitan Government began searching for wide open space not far from the center of Tokyo. The only, and to some extent traditional, choice was the land reclaimed in Tokyo Bay. Then, there was a shoal next to the airport some 20 minutes train ride from Tokyo Station, where traditional fishing villages were disappearing. Bingo. The former nori-farming shoal was quickly filled up to make a huge enough space for metropolitan wholesale food market. The story becomes interesting from here.

In Wild Bird Park, we can watch birds and airplanes fly together.

I don’t know if it could happen with today’s 21st century technology. But during the 1960s, it took time to convert the sea shoal to dry land, to make it sturdy enough to build large warehouses and wholesale market, and to build operational structures including the industrial wide roads. No one was lazy to make a large food market for hungry Tokyo, but it was 1990 when the current system of Ota Wholesale Market was completed. The project took 30 years to finish. i.e., during this civil engineering process, large reclaimed areas were left as “reclaimed land” waiting for their turn to receive constructions. Then, something interesting happened. Whatever the human intention, Tokyo Bay is a part of the Pacific Ocean. Especially at the edge of filled-up area, the Mother Nature “reclaimed” the space as sea. Moreover, the artificial hill that was expected to retain its above-sea height started to subsidence, if not to collapse. The depression did not reach the original sea level, but deep enough to gather rainwater as a pond. Meanwhile, the drainage system for the cities surrounding Tokyo Bay was continuously updated and the sea pollution became an episode in history books.

Water surface for Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park, now.

In addition, even if the area remained dry and waited for buildings, it did not remain as the original construction site. Similar to new volcanic and coral islands, lots of plants started sprouting. Maybe, the soil used for reclamation contained lots of dormant seeds. Or some could come from the sea, and the other would be thanks to animal dispersal, mainly by birds and from the soil carried by boots of human construction workers. They were not only herbaceous, but also woody plants. The put-off area became more and more a landscape of original Arakawa delta that could be seen 500 years ago. When plants started to thrive, small animals such as insects, rats, birds, etc. came from somewhere nearby and stayed there as their new home, just like many new Tokyoites coming to Megalopolis. The old residents of nori-farming shoal, i.e. fishes, crabs, etc. also returned to the new shoal next to Ota Wholesale Market. The food for seabirds, and then hawkeyed raptors became more and more abundant in this artificial site. Humans were also sharp-eyed.

Admitting some trees were later planted
by professional landscapers,
many of these plants in Wild Bird Park
came out naturally, really.

In the 1970s, many local nature lovers started to come here to watch birds, dragonflies, crabs, flowers, fishes, etc. Some noticed the area was important for migratory birds at least for a resting place. The voices from people pushed the Metropolitan Government to demarcate the area as Bird Sanctuary, and hence to decouple from the development of the Ota Market. In 1978, the Met government completed the construction of the Sanctuary Park, and in 1983 the Park changed its name to the current Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park 東京港野鳥公園. At that time, flattened against the Ota Market the size of the Park was modest 3.2ha. By 1989 the Park was extended for 24.9ha and the Nature Center was opened where the rangers from the Wild Bird Society of Japan stationed. In 2000, the shoal of the Park was registered for the East Asian–Australian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) as an important transit stop for migratory Sandpipers and Plovers traveling between Australia and Siberia. In 2018, the Metropolitan government re-reclaimed the filled-up shoal and made it 3 times wider than the area where the Tokyo Bay naturally regained after the landfill construction. So, now, the Wild Bird Park has the size of 36ha.

The exhibit in the Nature Center for
Little Tern, the species for Plovers

The story is a bit stupid, I felt. Now the Wild Bird Park envelops the entire north side of the Ota Market in the middle of industrial warehouses of Tokyo. People paid tons of money to have a new land 60 years ago, and in the 21st century paid another tax-money to return the artificially reclaimed space to the original shoal … Never mind. Mother Nature is stronger than human convenience for quick access to a large food market. Good tuition fee. Oh, by the way, Sandpipers and Plovers visit the Park every April and May, i.e., NOW! If you have a chance to go there within few weeks, please try. Next week, I tell you how comfortable the observation facilities in the Park are for bird watchers. 😉

The rangers showed us the observation-points
for Sandpipers and Plovers.

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 by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at https://www.tptc.co.jp/support/contact/park/yatyo

The other way round: Ota Central Wholesale Market and Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park, I 東京港野鳥公園

 

This week, I divert a bit from Kanagawa to tell you my adventure in Tokyo. As long as I know, Kanagawa does not have such forest. I think not many forests with similar stories exist in Japan. Why is this place so unique? It’s because the forest is completely man-made, including its ground. Or, I should say at least the beginning of the place was artificial some 60 years ago. The climate of Tokyo gave ecological succession, which has given the biota there a “natural” forest. Don’t you think it’s interesting? It’s an ultimate “Nature Positive” place where a collaboration of nature and humans is still on-going. The name of the place is Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park 東京港野鳥公園.

First, the location. Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park is in Ota Ward of Tokyo, embracing Ota Central Wholesale Market which is more or less next to the Haneda International Airport. Toyosu Market is world-famous with lots of touristic attractions, but for ordinary Japanese living in coastal area of Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Yokohama, Ota Market is the place where vegetables, et al come from. As such Ota Market is BIG. The Park is encircling this huge wholesale market. The geographical feature is exactly due to the origin of the place. More to it later. To go there, please take a commuter bus from Shinagawa or Omori Station. From Shinagawa Station, take Metropolitan Bus Shina-98 品-98 and get off at Daitō-Ōi-Butsuryū Center (Mon-Sat) or Ota Market North (holidays) and walk 5-15 minutes. There are more services from Omori Station by Keikyu Bus, Mori 森 -24, 32, 36, 41, 43, 45, 47. Please get off at Wild Bird Park Stop or Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park Stop both of which stand 5 minutes’ walk distance from the Park Entrance. During your bus ride, you may feel uneasiness if this is the right way to visit a forest. Many passengers are working in Tokyo’s logistics center. The scenery from the bus window becomes more and more industrial. Never mind. Just get off the destination stop. Ota Market North, Wild Bird Park, and Tokyo Port Wild Bird Stops are facing the Park itself which suddenly appears as a mass of greenery within rows of warehouses. The journey may give you a very “Tokyo” experience.

One weekend winter morning,
I took a bus to the Park from
commuter bus gate 5 of Omori Station.
This Keikyu Bus route employs fuel cell cars.

Near the park, there is a huge warehouse of JR East.

Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park Stop.
The greenery on our right is the Park area.
The Park is circled by 8-lane industrial roads.

The notice board near the above stop says
“Park Entrance this way, 300m ahead.”
Just follow it.

We’ll find the gate.

The Wild Bird Park is now owned and operated by Tokyo Port Terminal Corporation. The entity’s origin was a public corporation for the development and management of Port of Tokyo. After several organizational transformations, in 2007 it became company limited. With this background, the entrance fee to the Park is free for kids in elementary school or younger. If a 7-9th grader studies in Tokyo, s/he can use the facility free of charge. Adults pay 300 yen at the ticket booth, but on every October 1 entrance is free for all as this is the day for Citizens of Tokyo. The management of the Park is done by Terminal Corporation, but the operation of Nature Centre in the Park is by Japan Wild Bird Society. So, the facilities here for bird watching is, I would say, excellent. The data gathered and published from Wild Bird Park is also very interesting. If you’re a birdwatcher and in Tokyo with some reason, this is the place you can come at least once. It is closed every Monday and New Year holidays. Otherwise, the place opens 9:00-17:00 (February - October) or 9:00-16:30 (November – January).

From the gate, walk up this slope,
which is, by the way,
a completely artificial geographical feature.

At the end of the entrance
there is an admin office with ticket booths.

The panel explaining how to for the usage of the park,
 with English translation.
The place has parking spaces.

Tickets are sold by vending machines.

Entering the Park.
Before going through the gate,
Park volunteers check your ticket.

The Park is “divided” by a wide industrial road coming in Ota Market from the north. Hmmm, I think this expression may give you an impression the human activity destroyed the original wild forest for economic activity … actually the story is completely the other way around. I tell you about it next week. Well, so, the Park has two sections: West and East. West Park is smaller and contains rice paddies and veggie patches where volunteers engage in organic farming. This section also allows kids to catch and release insects with nets lent by the management office at the entrance. i.e. West Park has more facilities for human activity, and, I would say, is “garden-like.” East Park has Nature Center where rangers of the Wild Bird Society are resident. East Park directly faces Tokyo Bay and has tidal flat. I had an impression the area is more “forest-like.”. Let me continue the next week why the East and West are like that. Please stay tuned!

Ota Market, a Sunday morning

West and East Parks are connected by
 a long bridge that goes over the Market.

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 by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at
https://www.tptc.co.jp/support/contact/park/yatyo

Cherry Blossoms along the Shore: drought in Kanagawa Prefecture, spring 2026

 

Cherry blossoms! On April 1, Yokohama Local Meteorological Observatory announced its indicator cherry tree reached full blossom. Since then, we have a couple of days for spring storm, but at least around my neighborhood they keep their best. Hurrah! They will be so beautiful even when they are scattering. I hope a couple of more days left for us to steep in their ephemeral splendor … That’s said, something strange is happening. For one thing, the Meteorological Agency announced their weather forecast for this week: it’ll be warm days including several “hot days” with the temperature at the level of June. Their next 3 months’ forecast also says “The average temperature in Kanto Region will be high, and rainy monsoon season could start earlier than usual.” Well, do you remember my “prediction?” Soon after cherry blossoms, summer will come.

The early coming of monsoon season should be welcome. Actually, this winter was so dry in the megalopolis Tokyo area. Kanagawa Prefecture was not an exception, nor Yokohama. Our reservoir lakes for water supply remain in critical condition. As of April 4th, the entire water storage rate for Kanagawa’s main water system, i.e. Sagami and Sakawa River Systems, is 39%. It’s after more than 2 weeks of on-and-off rainy days. The worst is Tsukui Lake with Shiroyama Dam (; my post on Oct 20, 2017). The lakeside Prefectural Park, Tsukui Shiroyama Park, is famous for its cherry blossoms. But … look.

When a reservoir is like this, so is upstream area. This is the recent Yadoriki Stream. The comparison tells obvious: water level is low.

At the end of March 2026.
Right bank is dry enough to become grassland.

Yadoriki Stream in standard March

Yadoriki Water Source Forest is for Sakawa River system whose reservoir lake, Lake Tanzawa, shows 46% of water storage rate, or 51% of average year on April 4th. Tsukui Lake, a reservoir lake for Sagami River, shows 16% of storage rate or 21% of average year. i.e. Yadoriki Stream has more water than the other water source forests in Kanagawa. It’s scary. Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo Metropolitan Government have a water sharing agreement, and in normal times the Prefecture diversifies 220 million m3 water per day to Tokyo from Sagami River. Since last month, Sagami River could not continue this, and the supply to Tokyo was reduced to 110 million, i.e. halved, per day. The rainfall from mid-March has not yet let reservoirs recuperate from the drought.

The water level immediately after
the water gate of Shiroyama Dam.
Could you see the water level is so low?

Water source area is like this, and so is the downstream, i.e. Yokohama. We Niiharu Lovers worry if this spring frogs have enough water for their eggs. Next to Yatoda rice paddies in Asahi-Yato of Niiharu, there are two small ponds. They normally hold water for gelatinous frog eggs. If it’s tube-like, they are eggs for toads. If they are foamier, they are for Japanese brown frogs. This year, none. Reason? Both of these bonds are dried up. Frogs need water from February to March for their tadpoles. If there is no water, they do not lay eggs to begin with. “It’s sad.” “Yes. Oh, I’ve found some eggs in ponds next to Ikebuchi Open Space.” “Me too! They are brown frogs, aren’t they.” “But you see? The other day, I’ve been there in dusk and heard an owl hooted in a tree over the pond.” “What!? They are eating eggs and tadpoles.” “Oh yes.” Survival of the fittest. This is a harsh year for frogs in Yokohama.

Dried up

From rice paddies another stream goes to
the (artificial) pond next to Niiharu Community Centre
 in Satoyama Park.
It also has poor level of water.
As the pond in the park is man-made,
it keeps water somehow. But …

Tadpoles in Ikebuchi pond.

If monsoon comes earlier than usual with enough rain, it could give some respite for our water system. Yet, volunteers who nurture Yatoda rice paddies in Niiharu are seriously worrying the prospect of this year’s rice harvest. I guess it’s not a problem only for amateur farmers in our community. With soring energy cost (i.e. it’s more costly pumping from agricultural waterway), low or none water level is worse for agricultural production by pros. Last year’s harsh summer yielded poor crop of potato and onions in Hokkaido, and the cost of these is shooting up now in supermarkets in Yokohama. Let us keep crossing our fingers as the situation improves and we have sufficient water supply this summer. God willing …

Small flow for
Asahi-yato rice paddies this March.
Correction: No flow.

The flows from Niiharu Forest gathers in Umeda River,
then to Tsurumi River.
Inevitably, the water level for Umeda River is low now.
 It would be good news for Egretta garzetta
to procure meals in Umeda River. But …

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make 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/