The national parks system in Japan—established in 1931—had three purposes: 1) recreation and health preservation of the nation; 2) enlightenment of the nation; and, 3) to appeal to foreign tourists and acquisition of foreign exchange, with entrusting the task of preservation to the natural monuments system. Shortly after its establishment, the national parks system was deeply caught-up in the wartime situation. The first two of these purposes provided the basis for a grotesque transformation of the character of national parks during which they came to be considered as training fields to accomplish the war aims and to establish the “Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.”

Introduction

Japan has several pieces of legislation pertaining to the designation of nature reserves, with the Natural Parks Act (Shizenkōen hō) enacted in 1957 playing the key role. As shown in Table 3.1, approximately 15 percent of the country is now designated as natural parks, among which there are thirty-four national parks comprising slightly less than 6 percent of the national land area. These national parks are considered as the “ultimate bastion” of nature conservation. However, as the word “park” suggests, this system uses nature for recreational and touristic purpose and does not aim to fully protect nature.

Article 1 of the act sets out what is intended: “The purposes of this act are to contribute to the health and recreation of citizens, to enlighten the citizens and to conserve biological diversity through conserving excellent natural scenic areas and through promoting the utilization of those areas.” Among the three purposes mentioned here, the former two were already stressed by scholars of landscape architecture who contributed to the establishment and development of the national parks system through the end of the Second World War. Even though the purposes provided the basis for the militaristic use of national parks at the time, they were succeeded by the Natural Parks Act without sufficient reflection. Mainly, the first purpose—contribute to the health and recreation of citizens—has consistently been the distinguishing characteristic of national parks and nature parks.