Downtown Owlery: Ichizawa Citizen Forest for Carlit Forest カーリットの森 2

 

When Japan Carlit sold its land, there was an inevitable jostling for new ownership of the place. It was in Yokohama with extremely good accesses to Japanese arterials. New factory, or brand-new housing complexes? However, the residents of the area had different idea. In 1997, they formed a volunteer organization to protect the forest as one of the few remaining natures in downtown Yokohama. They are Carlit Hodogaya: the Association of Citizens to Protect Carlit Forest. Since then, they have continuously worked for protecting the precious greenery. They approached the City to make the place for a park and nature reserve. Tachibana Hill Park たちばなの丘公園, opened in 2011, is now managed by the City Office, and the rest of Carlit Forest is taken care of by Carlit Hodogaya. In 2020, the City awarded them Environmental Protection Award for their tireless activity. The association not only does maintenance jobs for the forest, but also studies environmental conditions of the entire Carlit Forest which is roughly 12.4ha. The volunteers found the Forest has rich biodiversity with nearly 1000 species of easily identified fauna and flora. Carlit Forest is now known as the rare nesting ground for ural owl so near to the downtown: in Kanagawa Prefecture, they are categorized as near-threatened species. In 2021, a part of the Forest surrounding Tachibana Hill Park was opened as Ichizawa Citizen Forest 市沢市民の森 where we can stroll. The remaining part of the forest is a nature reserve for treasures to live with minimum anthropogenic impacts.

Cherry blossoms and mistletoe in Ichizawa Forest.
 Here in Yokohama, when we find mistletoe above on a bough,
 it is a sign Japanese waxwing come here
 for overwintering and rub their poop with seeds of mistletoe.

The access to Carlit Forest is by bus. It does not have parking space. Before there was a bus stop for Japan Carlit factory. Admitting, now the Forest is not in an easy place to visit … But we respect the private lives of owls. Let’s enjoy the place in a peaceful way. There are 3 bus stops near the Forest. Nearest to the main entrance of Tachibana Hill Park is Ken-kosha-Juhtaku-mae Stop 県公社住宅前 for Hama19 浜19 service to/from Hoshikawa Station 星川駅 of Sotetsu Bus (; timetable of Hoshikawa Station is here). But I think the number of services for this stop is rather limited. So, I recommend you enter Carlit Forest from Ichizawa Citizen Forest side. There are two bus stops. One is Kan-2 Ichizawa Shimocho Stop 環ニ市沢下町 for Asahi6 旭6 service connecting JR Higashi-Totsuka Station 東戸塚 West Exit (timetable here) and Sotetsu Futamatagawa Station 二俣川 South Exit (timetable here). The landmark for you to check at the bus stop is new Kiyoken Bento Shop 崎陽軒. Kiyoken is probably the largest Eki-ben (a box lunch sold in a train station) maker of Japan, selling their lunch at Yokohama Station. Due to COVID-19 they faced “new normal” and fewer travelers. They’ve started a new way of selling their product along arterial roads, for this case Circular Road #2 (Kan-2) connecting to Metropolitan Expressway. If you plan to have lunch in Carlit Forest, it is a very convenient place to procure your meal. Anyway, from Kiyoken walk less than 50m or so to the direction of Futamatagawa Station and turn right at the first corner.

Kan-2 Bus Stop and Kiyoken

Turn right at the corner of 7/11 Convenience Store.

The road after turning right from Kiyoken goes up. You soon find another bus stop called Ichizawa Shimocho 市沢下町 which is for Hama16 浜16 service of Sotetsu from Yokohama Station (time table here) or from Sotetsu Tsurugamine Station 鶴ヶ峰 (weekdays only; time table here). This service is also very limited but to the entrance of the Citizen Forest, it is the nearest. Pass Ichizawa Shimocho Bus Stop and find a barber shop on the road. Turn right at the corner of this shop. The road is paved but a steep climb. Within a minute or so, we’ll find a beginning of the Forest on our left. Welcome to Carlit Forest!

Ichizawa Shimocho Stop

And go a bit, you’ll find this slope. Adelante, por favor.

Going up the slope …

to meet the entrance to Ichizawa Citizen Forest.

The entrance we encounter from this direction is for Ichizawa Citizen Forest, opened in April 2021. It’s the second youngest Citizen Forest of Yokohama (; there is really a newborn baby opened in April 2022. I’ll report you about the place later in this blog series). As a Citizen Forest, it has only 5.5ha expansion but connecting to Tachibana Hill Park and nature reserve area. So, probably for forest dwelling owls et al, it would be OK as a part of a larger greenery. The trekking road of the Citizen Forest has two faces. One is the ridge way rich in Satoyama vegetation of Yokohama such as oaks and cherries. When I’ve been there this year the cherry blossoms were in full-bloom and not many people were there. i.e. A secret place to enjoy cherry blossoms! This road is along the border between Asahi 旭区 and Hodogaya 保土ヶ谷区 Wards. Before it was used as a local commuter path and Japan Carlit built along the way a concrete-block wall that was against the blast wave and intruders. The end of the ridge way naturally connecting to Tachibana Hill Park. Or, you can descend to the valley where a natural stream runs.

The map of Ichizawa Forest

We’re welcomed by old cherry blossoms trees at the entrance.

The ridge way of Ichizawa Citizen Forest

Forest floor of the ridge way is bush of sasa bamboos,
 adorned by violets in early spring.
 It’s ideal environment to nest for
small birds such as Japanese bush warblers.

The end of the ridgeway enters naturally to Tachibana Hill Park.

A trekking route for the Tachibana Hill Park

Cherry blossoms were in full-bloom …

The valley is another face of the path of Ichizawa Citizen Forest. Actually, this road with wood decks was opened last month, April 2022. So, not many people visited there yet, and the route has a feel of pure nature along the way. As now we’re in the second half of May, I’m sure we can enjoy elegant evening dance of fireflies. Oh, one caution. There is no light what-so-ever in the Citizen Forest. Entering any Citizen Forest of Yokohama during night is not at all recommended by the City. If you’re in trouble after dark there, rescuing police and firemen would come but you must expect some sort of long paper works about the incidence. When you dare, please be well-prepared.

The road naturally runs with a small stream.
The bush along the water is ideal for fireflies’ home.

The route has wood decks.

The end of the valley way also naturally connects to the trekking road of Tachibana Hill Park. The Park also has two faces. One is the area in which the remains of underground factories exist. In front of the artificial hills there is a wide-open space for lots of flowering trees, such as plums, cherries, and peaches. The wide strolling path is paved. The wheelchair users can enjoy beautiful flower trees in spring. The place also equips nice toilet! Another part of the Park is non-paved trekking road that is the continuation from Ichizawa Citizen Forest. We can also notice from the map Carlit Forest has a wide area that does not allow us to stroll. These are the places where owls are nesting. Last spring, I had a Kiyoken bento lunch in the flowering part of the Park and noticed lots of wild birds busy singing to declare their territory. I guess it is the nature reserve that makes possible for us to enjoy fiesta of wild-bird song contest in a well-manicured garden. Hmmmm … OK, maybe during the evening, we can come to the entrance area of the Tachibana Hill Park where there are streetlights, and listen carefully for the voice of owls … That would be a fun. The weather is getting warmer now …

The end of valley way naturally joins with
 the trekking route for Tachibana Park.

The road soon turns into wider passage of city park with lights.

The area once there was the main body of factory.
 Now it has lots of flowering trees.

I loved their Cornus Officinalis.

Prunus persica is the official flower of Hodogaya Ward.

Chinese bamboo partridges come out without fear.

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016
FAX: 045-316-8420

Unintended Consequences, downtown version: Carlit Forest カーリットの森 1

 

Yokohama is a port city. Our downtown spreads near Tokyo Bay. To be exact, when we, citizens of Yokohama, think “downtown,” it’s in Tsurumi 鶴見, Kanagawa 神奈川, Nishi 西, Minami 南, Naka 中, and Isogo 磯子 Wards. Borderline case is Hodogaya 保土ヶ谷 Ward. This is the area where Tokaido 東海道, i.e. National Route 1, Metropolitan Expressway and bypasses to Tomei and Ken’oh Expressways run in the middle. Those roads are the major Japanese arterials. The reason why it is so is, during the Tokugawa Shogunate Period, the Ward was the area for a post-town, called Hodogaya-shuku 保土ヶ谷宿 (please see my post on November 4, 2016). There, Feudal Lords of the 17th-19th Centuries were ordered to spend at least a night during their journey to/from Edo, aka Tokyo, to meet their boss, i.e. Shogun. Inevitably, the place established its status as a transportation hub. It continues to be so even in the 21st century. During Japanese industrial revolution from the 1880s to the 1960s, many corporations had their factories and offices in Hodogaya Ward along Tokaido. One of them was Japan Carlit Corporation. In 1919, they started to have a large factory for explosives in the area spreading between Hodogaya and Asahi 旭 Wards.

To this direction for IC entering Metropolitan Expressway …

During the 1960s when Japan had a break-neck economic growth, Tokyo and Japanese population got larger and larger. That was the time when Yokohama solidified its status as Tokyo’s commuter town. Real bayside of Yokohama had gigantic industrial and port complexes, and so they maintained inorganic scenery. Hodogaya had a different story. Yep, still along the Route 1 there remained lots of large businesses (e.g., Sony), but off the industrial road, housing developers were busy to create suburbia. The factory of explosives faced an awkward situation, eventually enclosed by multilayers of ordinary houses. In 1995 Japan Carlit sold the land to the City of Yokohama and moved the plant to their larger facility in Gun’ma Prefecture 群馬県. Interesting thing is, as the place was once for explosives, the former corporate campus had a large artificial forest. Let me explain.

Japan has Explosives Control Act 火薬取締法. It strictly regulates structural plans of explosives factories in order to minimize the effect of accident, just in case. So, to build the workshop, Japan Carlit landscaped their land complying legal requirement. For example, the law says such-a-such process of explosives making must be underground; no lateral corridor is allowed between Process A and Process B, and so on. The company built artificial hill and drilled the foot of synthetic rise for isolated tunnels leading to each independent manufacturing floor. “The workplaces are now underground, aren’t they? Legal requirement is observed.” In addition, the Act demands the business to cover such factories not only with soil, concrete, bricks, etc., but also lots of vegetation to mitigate the possible blast wave reaching to the outside. The manufacturing facility had gone, but those afforested flora remained, or to be exact, thrive over the now-empty workplaces. They became Carlit Forest.

A human created hill for explosives factory

An entrance to one workshop floor.
 In order to move to the next room, people used …

minecarts ran by lead storage battery.
The tracks were built in artificial valleys
 between the elevations.

Now inside of a tunnel is like this.

The forest surrounded the factory, early spring 2022.

So, Carlit Forest was originally created not for agricultural purposes, or for protecting ecosystem. Whateva. The place now is one of the few greeneries in downtown Yokohama. The Forest was first opened in 2011 as Tachibana Hill Park たちばなの丘公園 for the area where the main remnants of the factory and offices stood (er, well, went underground). The rest of the Forest is divided into two parts; one is Ichizawa Citizen Forest 市沢市民の森, and another is nature reserve. Tachibana Park and Ichigaya Citizen Forest are very relaxing space. Next week, I tell you the access etc. for Carlit Forest. Pls. stay tuned! 😊

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make a contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau
横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016
FAX: 045-316-8420