Japan’s National Park System
Japan’s national park system was launched in 1931 to protect and maintain the country’s natural landscape. It includes 34 parks from Hokkaido to Okinawa, which make up 5.8 percent of Japan’s total land area. Because some parts of the designated national parks were already populated when the system was established, the land in the parks is not all government owned, but rather a mix that includes private and prefectural land. Local communities and parks coexist and cooperate within this system.