______________________________________________________________________________ / LANDSCAPE OF TOKYO'S NEW TOWN \ | | \ ``Campus Note'' No. 5 / ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ \ ^__^ \ (oo)\_______ (__)\ )\/\ ||----w | || || Copyright (c) T. Nihei, M. Suzuki & Z. Ahmed. Permission to use, copy, and modify this document for any purpose is hereby granted. THE DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND THE AUTHORS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES. Publisher; Nihei lab, Department of Tourism Science, Tokyo Metropolitan Univ. 1st edition in Mar 2023, 3rd edition in Mar 2025. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction This article was written for excursions around the campus (by T. Nihei with the help of lab members). In this article, plance names are written as they are pronounced, e.g. Minamiosawa --> Minami-oosawa. An exception is ``Tokyo'' because it is listed in the dictionary (Nihei's lab 2025). #1 #1 Even for the Japanese, pronouncing place names in Kanji characters can be difficult. In the past, place names were for privileged classes such as aristocrats and landlords who could write and read. II. Landscape We live in the western end of Tama New Town. Here we see raccoon dogs, badgers, flying squirrels, owls, bats, and woodpeckers. They remind us of old forests. We call this area Tokyo's green new town (Photo 1). An international student from Vietnam said that when he moved to Tokyo (Minami-oosawa) his throat was soothed by the clean air. Time has changed. When I was a child, TV broadcast the information about smog (air pollution) everyday. Today, many people suffer from cedar tree pollen fever in March. The district is located leeward of Mt. Takao and other mountains that have many cedar trees. _______________ | | | PHOTO 1 | | | --------------- Photo 1; Landscape of new town. Taken from the campus. Source HTTP://2242. MOOO.COM/NOTE/NTF1.JPG Living on the hill, the clouds look closer and the stars look closer. EXIF data; DateTime 2023:10:19 17:05:09, ImageLength 2992, ImageWidth 2992, ExposureCompensation -0.7EV, ExposureTime 1/100 sec, FNumber F8, FocalLengthIn35mmFilm 100.0 mm, ISOSpeedRatings 3200. At any rate, a camera is a machine that records light. III. Minami-oosawa Minami-oosawa district is located in the western suburb of Tokyo (Fig 1). The new town of the district was constructed during the later stages of the Tama New Town development. Minami-oosawa was planned to overcome the problems in the early stage of the development (UR East Japan Region, 2022). One of the planning concepts is ``urban development in harmony with nature.'' #2 _______________ | | | FIG 1 | | | --------------- Fig 1; Image of Minami-oosawa and vicinity. Its topography is like a palm and fingers. The complicated terrain made it difficult to build the railway, which goes through a high bridge and a tunnel. The terrain is similar to the northern Kantou region, where I grew up. Farmers grow chestnuts on the hills there, and apartments stand on the hills here. A student who likes traveling said, ``The number of passengers at Minami-oosawa Station is about the same as Shizuoka Station (the capital of Shizuoka Prefecture).'' My father in law who runs a small company said, ``A lot of people live in Tokyo, so if you do it normally, you will be all right.'' #2 ``Minami-oosawa'' means ``south, large, stream.'' There are many bridges and valleys in the district. The name of bridges retain old place names; Minami-yato (south valley), Koyato (old valley), Sakura-zuka (cherry mound), Kutanbo (9-tan paddy fields [0.9 hectares' paddy fields]), and Tameike (reservoir). From a bridge near co-op on the campus, I see Mt. Fuji if the air is clear. I call it Fuji-mi-bashi (view of Mt. Fuji bridge). IV. Walking Courses If we take a short walk around the campus, we can see how the new town was constructed in harmony with nature. These are examples of walking courses for observation; 1. From Tokyo Metropolitan University #3 https://maps.gsi.go.jp/#16/35.6162/139.3780/ --> Minami-oosawa 5-choume, cherry street --> Minami-oosawa Green Park (Minami-oosawa-ryokuchi) Uzumaki Park (Spiral Park) --> Tokyo Metropolitan Oyamadairi Park --> Tank Road (test course during the war) --> Keiou-tamasakai Station --> (Keiou Sagamihara Line) --> Minami-oosawa Station 2. From Minami-oosawa Station #4 https://maps.gsi.go.jp/#16/35.6140/139.3797/ --> Minami-oosawa 3-choume --> Shimizu-iri Green Park (Shimizu-iri-ryokuchi) --> Nagaike Park --> Nagaike-mitsuke Bridge Mitsukega-oka --> Seseragi-ryokudou (greenery and stream path) --> Keiou-horinouchi Station 3. Part of Yokoyama-no-michi (an old trail). We had an excursion in Dec 2024. It was a luxury experience to walk on unpaved soil. Nagaike Park https://maps.gsi.go.jp/#16/35.605237/139.388051/ --> Karakida Water Distribution Station https://maps.gsi.go.jp/#16/35.608185/139.395776/ --> Ootsuma Women's University, Tama Campus --> Tokyo Gas Tama Pressure Regulating Station https://maps.gsi.go.jp/#16/35.610348/139.410496/ --> Tama Social Welfare Center https://maps.gsi.go.jp/#16/35.611970/139.412427/ #3 The landmark is a tower of Tokyo Metropolitan University. It is located at the entrance of the university, but a high school student said, ``It is a tower of Mitsui Outlet Park.'' The tower resembles steeples of old churches in Europe, but the top is made of glass. It is a transparent head. There is a model of the campus in the entrance hall between buildings No. 8 and No. 9 on the campus. It was made just before the relocation of the campus and it does not have a tower. Old Tokyo Metropolitan University was located in Meguro Ward between 1949 and 1991. There still is a station of Toritsu-daigaku (Tokyo Metropolitan University) in the ward. In the past, an international student from China mistook the station and could not make her/his presentaiton at an academic conference held in the university. The outlet mall in front of the campus is run by Mitsui Group. Mitsui was one of zaibatsu (conglomerates) before the war. The outlet mall was opened in 2000. The land and buildings are owned by Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Before the outlet mall opened, there were a drive-in theater and a big tent. I heard from Mr. Miyamto, a resident and former UR employee, that the tent was used for Pro-wrestling. (Wrestlers are almost naked in Pro-wrestling [USA], Mongolian wrestling, and Smou-wrestling [Japan]. The difference is that wrestlers in the continents wear good leather boots and Sumou wrestlers are bare feet. Leather boots are uncomfortable in summer in Tokyo.) #4 New town in Minami-oosawa were developed in the 1980s and 1990s. During the early development, an elementary school (Kashiwagi) and a junior high school (Minami-oosawa) opened in 1983. Then, Minami-oosawa Station opened in 1988. Before the opening of the railway, commuters went to Tama-center Station by bus. There is an old shopping center in a square surrounded by old public housing. The area is not large. The shops are basic; supermarket, 100-yen shop, soba (buckwheet noodle) restaurant, coffee shop, ice-cream shop, barber, beauty salon, chiropractor, dentist, pharmacy, bakery, dry cleaner (closed in 2022), and cram school (closed in 2024). Police box and post office are alos attached to the shoppng center. The post office is Minami-oosawa Post office, the original one in the district (the large post office near the station is Minami-oosawa-ekimae Post Office). Some of the shops are placed on the ground floor of a public apartment building. Urban planners call them ``gueta-kouzou (gueta-structure https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Geta_(footwear)).'' Old shops are barber, beauty salon, soba restaurant, chiropractor, dentist, pharmacy, and supermarket (the supermarket is the 3rd company). New shops are ice-cream shop, coffee shop, bakery, and 100-yen shop. They are for the life of consumption. Closed ones (dry cleaner and cram school) reflect small birth rate and aging population. Retired workers no longer wear white shirts. Not only cram schools but also universities in the country seek how to attract young people. V. Tama New Town Tama New Town was developed in Tama Hills (Hiraoka, 2008; Nihei, 2018). Large apartments were constructed between the 1960s and 1990. They are like a housing catalogue. The early apartments were designed with an emphasis on quantity and modernism (the use of concrete, steel, and glass). The new town in and around Minami-oosawa district was developed between the 1980s and 1990s. The apartments that were built in the final stage of the Tama New Town development were designed with an emphasis on quality and post- modernism, e.g. Maisonette House, Plus-one House, Town-House, Cooperative House, and Skeleton House. Japanese houses, once called rabbit hutches, have become larger. They consume much money and energy. #5 #5 Apartments on hills are public housing. They were developed by Tokyo Metropolitan Government. They are managed by organizations such as Kousha (JKK, Juutaku-kyoukyuu-kousha, Tokyo Metropolitan Housing Corporation) and UR (Urban Renaissance Agency, formerly Koudan [Housing Corporation]). Public housing south of Minami-oosawa Station was developed after 1983. Public housing noruth of the station, near Tokyo Metropolitan University, including Bell Coline, was developed after 1989. In the early 1990s, a university professor applied to buy an apartment in Belle Coline (``Belle Coline'' means ``beautiful hill'' in French). The price was 80,000,000 yen. It was expensive for public housing. It was during the bubble economy. He could not buy the apartment because more than 50 people applied and he lost the selection (lottery). These are the data for the Belle Coline; Average floor area = 105-145 square meters. Average price = 401,000 - 520,000 yen per square meter. (by Tama-new-town-danchi-zukan http://tamant.s500.xrea.com/index.php) Cf. In Sapporo, I lived in the teachers' apartment that was built in the 1960s. Each apartment was 55 square meters in size (plus a coal storage). In the case of Brazil, in 2005, I visited a showroom of a new 30-storey apartment building. Each apartment was 200-204 square meters in size and had four toilets (the 140 square meters' apartment in Belle Coline has two toilets). VI. Minami-oosawa (Part 2) In Minami-oosawa, villages were distributed along valleys and coppice forests were distributed on hills. Farmers cultivated paddy rice in valleys. They cut firewood on hills. During the development of the new town, topsoil was removed by bulldozers from hills and some valleys were reclaimed. The topography has changed. #6 #7 The landscape of Minami-oosawa is characterized by the contrast between hills and valleys, namely, large apartments on the hill and small apartments in the valley; green spaces on the hill and detached houses in the valley; pedestrian streets on the hill and roadways in the valley. #6 Tokyo Metropolitan University was constructed on a ridge. During construction, 20 to 30 meters of topsoil were removed from the west side of the campus. The top of the ridge was higher than the tall antenna on the building. Removing the topsoil Kantou Loam, volcanic ash, the gravel layer Goten-touge- reki-sou appeared. Goten-touge (Goten Pass) is located between Katakura in Hachiouji City and Aihara in Machida City. The gravel layer was deposited when the old Sagami River flew into Tokyo Bay. It was about 500,000 years ago. The ridge used to be a river. The area near Uzumaki Park (Spiral Park) is a valley, but many people consider it a ridge because the original topography has changed. https://maps. gsi.go.jp/#17/35.610204/139.367892/ Many residents in the new town believe that the place is safe from earthquake because it was developed on the hills from which soil was removed (valleys with buried soil are not safe). However, the removed topsoil was buried somewhere in the district. There is a ``one out, one in'' rule. The department of geography has maps that show areas of buried soil. The maps were well received at an exhibition in March 2023. Geography is based on education. When the number of children decreases, geographical departments will be closed. An old Chinese proverb says; when rabbits disappear, dogs are killed. Today's universities are like companies and professors are salespersons. #7 In the case of South America, Japanese immigrants colonized the valleys to cultivate paddy rice, and they were suffering from malaria, while Western immigrants created ranches on the hills (Maruayma, 2010. ``Criadors'' in Portuguese (``creator'' in English) means ranch owners. When I see the landscape of new town, I remember the word ``cultural stratigraphy,'' which my teacher said (Saito 2006). Culture accumulate on the Earth like strata, sometimes fiercely, sometimes silently. VII. Pedestrian Streets Pedestrian streets and roadways are separated in the new town of Minami- oosawa. Residents can walk without worrying about cars. A network of pedestrian streets allows them to walk to many destinations. Pedestrian streets are broad, allowing them to walk side by side or push strollers slowly. These are the most popular streets according to the number of pedestrians; (1) the cherry street in front of the university, (2) a residential street leading to Oyamadairi Park, (3) Tank Road, and (4) the shopping street in front of Minami-oosawa Station, which is also used by residents to access public facilities (Kikuchi et al., 2023). #8 Pedestrian streets connect green spaces that remain on hill slopes. Green spaces occupy about 30% of the new town area in Minami-oosawa. Green strips are distributed on the map. Residents can walk through green spaces and refresh their minds and bodies. Japanese people, who once were called worker bees, now have time to contemplate nature. #9 #8 Cherry trees have horizontal lines on the bark, though old and large ones hide the lines with moss. Cherry trees are in the rose family. The variety of cherry trees in front of the university is Somei-yoshino, which is the most popular one in the country (Somei-yoshino is for flowers, not for fruit). It was bred in Somei village near Edo (old Tokyo) in the end of the Edo era. It was more then 150 years ago. The village was located near today's Ikebukuro. Somei-yoshino was named after Mt. Yoshino, a famous cherry blossom site in Nara Prefecture. The cherry trees are used as an indicator of blossom time. They are clones. If the soil and climate are the same, they grow in the same way. Their height, thickness, branches, and twisted trunk are similar. They are precedents for today's digital society. Making clone trees is easier than making clone animals. Clones are more alike than siblings. I ask; ``Do you have brothers and sisters?'' ``Yeah...'' ``Do you have clones?'' ``...'' Clones are copies. The clone cherry trees can be considered as they lived for more than 150 years since the first one appeared. In the world of novels and movies, there are many cloned humans. They are imaginations or desires. #9 Old people would say ``hardworking workers like the Puritans'' or ``hardworking workers like the Japanese.'' A long time ago, active people from what is now China crossed the sea and came to Japan, as active people in England crossed the ocean and came to the USA. We inherit the genes. (A professor from Beijing said that today many Chinese people go to the USA via central and south Americas.) After all, people who live in new town were migrated from other places. It resembles the northern Hokkaidou island (Nihei's lab 2021). The people who moved to Hokkaidou in the past got land there, but the people in new town don't have land here. We are like tumbleweeds. The life of tumbleweeds is easy (we do not have to pay property tax, fees for neighborhood associations, fees for shared facilities, and housing loans in the case of rental properties). Today, people do not need as much land as they once did. This may lead to the end of geography. VIII. Green Spaces Green spaces are distributed in Minami-oosawa district (Photo 2). They are the symbol of urban planning in harmony with nature. Their sizes are various. The large ones are Oyamadairi Park and Nagaike Park. Both parks have management offices and volunteers to preserve the environment. Oyamadairi Park is located in the western end of Tama Hills. A lake was created near the ridge. It utilizes spring water at the valley head. The park retains the landscape of ``satoyama'' (neighboring mountain) and provides one of the popular walking courses. Adjacent to Oyamadairi Park, Tank Road runs on the ridge. That is also a popular walking course that offers a panoramic views of Sagamihara. Nagaike Park is located in the south of Minami-oosawa district. The terrain is a rolling hill on the border between Hachiouji and Machida cities. The park maintains natural ecosystem and traditional rural culture with the participation of local residents. In Minami-oosawa and its vicinity, paddy fields remain only in the park. They are used for education, not for producing food or selling food (paddy fields in plains are for sale, in valleys are for self-consumption, and in the new town are for education). #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 _______________ | | | PHOTO 2 | | | --------------- Photo 2; Deciduous oak (konara) in Minami-oosawa. Source HTTP://2242.MOOO. COM/NOTE/NTF3.JPG The forest here is darker than the northern forest in Hokkaidou. In early spring, if you smell a strange odor near the woods, it comes from flowers of Sakaki trees. Sakaki is an evergreen broad-leaved tree. It is written as ``tree, god'' in Japanese. The Japanese put the branches of Sakaki tree on the altars. The flowers' strange smell was a sign to the ancient people that they were able to cultivate rice here and gave birth to children. EXIF data; DateTime 2023:10:21 15:22:18, ImageLength 2992, ImageWidth 2992, Make PENTAX, ExposureCompensation -0.7EV, ExposureTime 1/60 sec, FNumber F8, FocalLengthIn35mmFilm 100.0 mm, ISOSpeedRatings 3200. #10 Sagamihara is the central part of Kanagawa Prefecture. Musashino is the western part of Tokyo. The areas are covered with Kantou Loam (volcanic ash soil). The loam was derived from western volcanoes such as old Mt. Fuji and old Mt. Hakone. During the last 10,000 years, the loam accumulated one meter in Musashino and three meters in Sagamihara (by Professor T. Suzuki). #11 Tokyo is a prefecture that stretches from east and west (except the southern islands). The terrain is divided into four parts from east to west; lowlands (under 8 meters above sea level), uplands (Musashino Plateau, 8-50 meters), hills (Tama Hills, 55-350 meters), and mountains (the highest peak is Mt. Kumotori-yama at 2017 meters) (Tokyo-to-kankyou-kyoku, 2023). The terrain inclines from east to west. The elevation of Ueno Park, located at the eastern end of the uplands, is about 20 meters. The elevation of Tokyo Metropolitan University (Minami-oosawa campus), located in Tama Hills, is 130-140 meters. #12 Long ridges divide three basins of (1) Sakai River, (2) Tsurumi River, and (3) Tama River. The Sakai River flows to Enoshima beach between cities of Fujisawa and Kamakura. The Tsurumi River flows to Tokyo Bay between cities of Yokohama and Kawasaki. The Tama River runs through the western part of Tokyo Prefecture and flows to Tokyo Bay between Oota Ward and Kawasaki City, it is near Tokyo International Airport. Close to the ridges, the so-called border industries are located. They are distribution center, waste treatment plant, garbage incineration plant, gas tank, water distribution station, cemetery, gravestone maker, and crematory. #13 The course of the Sagami River changed from east to west according to the rise of Tama Hills. About 500,000 years ago, the old Sagami River flew into today's Tokyo Bay. The course was the same as the downstream of today's Tama River. About 100,000 years ago, the course of the old Sagami River was the same as today's Sakai River, which flows west of Tank Road. Today, the Sagami River empties into Sagami Bay in the central part of Kanagawa Prefecture's coastline (Kanagawa Prefecture et al. 2015). ``Sakae'' means ``border'' in Japanese. The Sakai River flows as a border between Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures. It is a small river now, flowing through crowded residential areas. It used be a large dragon 100,000 years ago (dragon signifies the god of river). #14 According to plate tectonics, an island collided with Honshuu Island about 5,000,000 ago and became the Tanzawa Mountains. Then, another island collided with Honshuu Island about 1,000,000 years ago and became Izu Peninsula. Old Mt. Fuji was erupted between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago. Tanzawa Mountains and Tama Hills were raised. Tama Hills is located in the periphery of the active terrain. It is a crease of the earth. #15 No paddy fields remain in the district, but small upland fields remain near the former farmhouses. Elderly people still cultivate crops on their small plots of land. The farmhouses were rebuilt during the land reformation. It is urban farming. The scale is small but they grow various vegetables. They grow summer crops in summer such as green soybeans, sweet corn, and egg plant. They grow winter crops in winter such as spinach, Chinese cabbage, and radishes. A land of 10-are can be used as 20 ares. Their vegetables are used in school lunches such as grated radish pasta in winter. IX. Other Hints # Broad-leaved evergreen trees such as Shira-kashi (evergreen oak) and Sakaki (see above) are replacing deciduous trees and pine trees. There is a protected area on campus, whose name is Matsuki-hinata-ryokuchi, which means ``Pine-tree-sunshine-green-space'' in English. There are no pine trees now. The place is like a jungle. When I conducted a small excursion at the protected area, the students complained. Many insects flew around their faces. I remembered the mosquito pillar I saw in South America. # Wild mulberry trees near upland fields remind us of sericulture in the past. Farmers in the mountainous and hilly areas conducted sericulture since the Meiji period (about 150 years ago). In the past, the Japanese sold silk to Western countries and bought battleships from Western countries. Mulberry trees bear fruit in the beginning of summer. The color of mulberry is deep purple or dark red. (An international student from Pakistan gave me dried white mulberry.) The color of mulberry, deep purple, is called ``dodome'' in Japanese. When I was in elementary school, physical education at the pool started in early June. It was still cool in the past, so children's lips turned deep purple in the swimming pool. A friend of mine said, ``Your lip is dodome!'' I replied, ``You too!'' # Hoshi-zakura (cherry) and Aihara-dake (bamboo) are local varieties around Minami-oosawa. ``Hoshi-zakura'' means ``star-cherry.'' It has star-shaped sepals. Star cherry flowers are modest, compared to Somei-yoshino, the most famous variety in the country (Somei-yoshino flowers are gaudy). As for Aihara-dake, according to Mr. Kobayashi, a curator at Nagaike Park, it originates from the area near JR Aiahra Station. I think that the variety was bred by local residents for bamboo crafts. Bamboo was useful in the past. As for banboo grass, a typical variety is Azumane-zasa. It has narrow leaves. In Minami-oosawa, there are colonies of Kuma-zasa. It has broad leaves with white edges. Kuma-zasa creates mountain-like landscapes. The curator mentioned that the Kuma-zasa was likely planted by local people. I agree with him because Kuma-zasa usually grows in high mountains in the case of Honshuu Island. Here is a warm region where large citrus fruits ripen in the gardens of farmhouses. # As for insects, during the high season, I find saw stag beetles (nokogiri- kuwagata) and small stag beetles (kokuwa) even in the hallway of the apartment. In nearby Nagaike park, there are many Kunugi trees (sawtooth oak, deciduous broad-leaved tree) that stag beetles like to live in. I also found a live jewel beetle (tama-mushi) on a pedestrian street. The last time I caught it was 45 years ago. Jewel beetles reside on high branches of Enoki tree (Chinese Hackberry, deciduous broad-leaved tree). Professor Takagi said that the color of the jewel beetle is structural (kouzou-shoku). The shining green never fades. # On maps in Japan, a mulberry field is marked like a ``Y'' and a police stand (kou-ban) is like an ``X.'' Though the Ys are disappearing from the map, many Xs can be found. The original police stand in Minami-oosawa is located in an old shopping center surrounded by old new town apartments. After Minami-oosawa Station opened, a police stand and a police station were built in front of the station. The reason why Japanese society is safe is because there are many police stands. In the case of central Sapporo, where I lived, police stands are located in front of north and south exits of Sapporo Station, in Oodori Park, near Tanuki Kouji shopping street, and in Susukino, which is the largest entertainment district in Hokkaidou (Susukino police stand was famous for a TV program that documented police officers' 24 hours). In the past, my grandparents in law owned a shop. One night, thieves entered the shop, and my grandparents were gagged. One of the thieves tried to kill my grandparents but the other one stopped him. At the time, the society was poor. Houses in Japan are surrounded by walls or hedges, while houses in the USA and Canada (in the countryside) are open and surrounded by lawns. The enclosed houses are remnants of wars. There were many wars; the wars occurred before the Edo era (17th to 20th centuries), before the Muromachi era (14th 16th centuries), and before the Kamakura era (12th to 14th centuries). Moated settlements were created in the Yayoi era (10th century BC to 3rd century AD [Anno Domini]). In the past, active people crossed the sea from today's Chinese continent to the archipelago. They carried rice seeds and the Yayoi era started. We inherit the genes. # Bamboo grass is small in height but it is a large living organism because it is connected by roots. Young leaves of Kuma-zasa (bamboo grass with broad leaves) are used for making Chimaki (rice dumplings). The seeds of kuma-zasa is called ``no-mugi (wild barley).'' There is Nomugi Pass between Nagano and Gifu prefectures (1672 meters altitude). In the past, people said that ``nari-doshi- wa-fusaku (the year when bamboo bears fruit is crop failure)'' and they ate bamboo grass seeds. As for bamboo (larger one than bamboo grass), the typical varieties is are Mousou-dake and Madake. Mousou-dake is the thickest bamboo in the country. Its bamboo shoots are good for eating. Mousou-dake has a ring at the node. Madake has two rings at the node. Madake has been used for bamboo crafts such as baskets and clotheslines. There are many bamboos at the natural conservation area, Matsuki-hinata- ryokuchi, in Tokyo Metropolitan University. Today, it is difficult to control the spread of bamboo in mountainous areas. Few people go to the mountains (except for hiking) and use bamboo crafts. In my hometown, people say that bamboos bloom every 70 years. To confirm, I started growing Ya-jino, a variety of large bamboo grass, in a pot in 2007. It was dug up by my father in the nearby mountains. The bamboo grass died in 2021 in Tokyo. It did not bloom. # There are rows of Keyaki (zelkova) trees in and around the campus. On the campus, at the roots of Keyaki trees, pots of fertilizer are placed. The topsoil (loam) was removed during the campus was constructed and Keyaki trees were planted on the gravel, so the fertilizer was needed. The trees were planted more than 30 years ago, but they are not large. Some of them died. Traditionally, Keyaki trees were planted on the south side of farm yards. Keyaki is a tall deciduous tree. It cast a shadow on the yard in summer. It allows the sunlight to pass through in winter. On the north side of farm yards, they made Kashigune (hedge of evergreen oak) to protect Karakkaze (northwestern dry wind in winter). In the lowlands of the Kantou Plain, farmers also planted bamboos on the north side to weaken floodwaters. On rare cases, marble patterns appear in Keyaki wood. The pattern is called Tama-moku [\u7389 \u6762]. The marble wood is called Mei-boku (precious wood) and very expensive. In the past, I studied floriculture in a rural area (Nihei 2000). During a fieldwork, I interviewed Tokusaburou Tsuruta (1914-2001), a pioneer of the floriculture. At the time, he was in his late 70s. He had handed over floriculture to his son and he was cultivating Keyaki trees. He was studying how to make marble patterns in Keyaki wood. After the interview, he dug up Jinenjo (a mountain yam) next to the Keyaki filed and gave it to me. My father said that Keyaki is good for making mallet heads. # In January 2021, I received an new year card from an elderly professor emeritus. He wrote, ``Minami-oosawa was Sugoi-tokoro (an amazing place) 40 years ago.'' It may indicate that this place was really rural. I saw foxes (Kitsune) when I lived in Sapporo, and here I saw racoon dogs (Tanuki). During evening excursions at 5th period courses, we saw raccoon dogs and bats in and around the campus. Raccoon dogs are edible though they are not eaten today. An old folk song says, ``Senba-yama-niwa-tanukiga-otte-sa, sorewo- ryoushi-ga-teppou-de-utte-sa, nite-sa, yaite-sa, kutte-sa (There is a racoon in Mt. Senba and the hunter shoots it with a gun, boils it, burns it, and eats it)'' In the past, there were many stories about foxes and raccoon dogs deceiving people. It is said that in my mother's hometown people who were deceived by the fox wandered through Susuki fields (silver grass fields). Professor Takashi Okuno said that the electric light extinguished ghosts. It may have erased people's imaginations. Bats are flying in the dusk. I heard in Brazil that Japanese-Brazilians used to catch bats with long bamboo poles (I did no know bamboo grows in South America). Bats are also edible though Japanese people do not now. At night, badgers (Anaguma) and raccoons (Arai-guma) appear. A badger was walking even at Mitsui Outlet Park. Badgers and bats hibernate in winter. They wake up in spring. In rare occasions, I met owls (Fukurou) and frying squids (Musasabi). I saw a large owl flew off a pedestrian street into the night. In my hometown an owl (maybe Mimizuku) was hooting on the power line at night. Owls eat mouses. There are also stray cats. They are fat because elderly women feed them at evening (generally in public housing, it is prohibited keep dogs or cats). Stray cats even have their names such as Shiro-chan (little-white in English or branquinho in Portuguese). There are no stray dogs in the country today. Stray dogs are caught by civil servants. Twice I saw police officers chasing an escaped dog. The scenes implied a calm and peaceful life. # Looking up at the sky, we will see propeller and jet transport planes flying overhead, and sometimes Ospreys flying. This area is a landing route for the US air base in Yokota. The sight of 10 propeller transport planes flying one after another was a sight to behold. There is also a US military base in neighboring Sagamihara City. There are Burger King shops nearby, which may be due to the influence of US bases (McDonald's is plentiful, but Burger King is not common in the country). Once, I saw an old man walking a pedestrian street listing to American English on the radio. I thought the radio might be FEN (Far East Network; now American Forces Network). Once, my wife joined an English conversation club in new town. An old man in the club said that he had worked for a US base and it was a completely different world. (When I have written this section, I picked up a US coin from a pedestrian road. It was UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE CENT. Maybe it was a tip for me.) # As for climate, these are mean temperatures and precipitations (average from 1981 to 2010, source https://weather.time-j.net/Climate/). PLACE; ANNUAL MEAN TEMPERATURE (DEGREES CELSIUS); COLDEST MONTH MEAN TEMPERATURE; HOTTEST MONTH MEAN TEMPERATURE; ANNUAL MEAN PRECIPITATION (MM) Hachiouji (Tokyo Prefecture); 14.4; 3.2 JAN; 26.1 AUG; 1602.3 Chiyoda Ward (Tokyo Prefecture, Japan's representative data); 15.4; 5.2 JAN; 26.4 AUG; 1528.8 Sapporo (Hokkaidou Prefecture); 8.9 ; -3.6 JAN; 22.3 Aug; 1106.5 Naha (Okinawa Prefecture); 23.1; 17.0 Jan ; 28.9 JUL; 2040.8 Compared to Sapporo, where I lived, it rains a lot in summer in Tokyo. The rain falls heavily (dosha-buri). In Sapporo, there is a ramen-shop whose name is ame-wa-yasashiku (the rain falls tenderly). I thought the name was funny, but I understand the reason after I moved to Tokyo. I wear rubber boots instead of leather boots in the heavy rain. Leather products get moldy in the summer in Tokyo. # We get sudden downpours in summer. Though it is sunny at neighboring Keiou-horinouchi Station, it rains at Minami-oosawa Station, located to the west. Cf. the mean precipitation in August is 242.2 mm in Hachiouji City (west) and 189.6 mm in Fuchuu City (east). The winds from Tokyo Bay and Sagami Bay converged here, above the long ridges, and make clouds that bring the heavy summertime rainfall (Oka et al. 2019). According to Koppen's climate classification, Tokyo is categorized as Cfa (humid subtropical). In summer, it is very hot. Even a short walk makes me sweat and I cannot enjoy observing the scenery. In winter, however, the orange sunlight in the afternoon is beautiful. Red flowers and green leaves of camellias spread in winter. At a flower bed on my way to work, morning glories (Asagao) are blooming in late November and daffodils (Suisen) are in mid-January. Those winter flowers remind me that I live under the sub-tropical climate. The camellias are Sazanka and Tsubaki. The one with falling petals is Sazanka and the one with falling flowers is Tsubaki. Their flowers are resemble tea flowers. # On a winter excursion, students find hairy soft buds. Among trees, Kobushi (kind of magnolia) and Nekoyanagi (pussy willow) have hairy soft winter buds. They look warm. They bloom first in spring. Kobushi trees have small white flowers and Nekoyanagi trees catkins. The size of Kobushi flower is about the size of a baby's fist (kobushi). Kobushi flower blooms upwards, diagonally, and sideways. This a legend about Kobushi flower by Ichikawa (1993); if Kobushi blooms sideways, the year is windy and crop failures occur. # There are five elementary and junior high schools in the district; Kashiwagi elementary school (opened in 1983), Minami-oosawa junior high school (opened in 1983), Minami-oosawa elementary school (opened in 1985), Miyakami elementary school (opened in 1989), and Miiyakami junior high school (opened in 1989). The opening year corresponds to the development of new town. The school buildings are large. They were so-called mammoth schools, but today, there are many vacant rooms today. Ghosts may appear at night (there are many ghost stories at school). Hachiouji City and Tomakomai City in Hokkaidou are sister cities. Tomakomai's specialty is Hokki-gai (Sakhalin surf clam). The salf clams are served in the elementary schools as a gift from the sister city. My son ate them, after submitting a document ``he/she is not allergic to shellfish.'' In the Edo era, in 1800 [eighteen hundred], groups of Hachiouji-sennin- doushin (Hachiouji 1000 samurais) immigrated to Ezo (old Hokkaidou) by the order of Tokugawa Shogunate (Nihei's lab 2020). They also immigrated Shiranuka in today's Kushiro sub-prefecture, Hokkaidou. They reclaimed for four years but could not stay in Ezo because of the cold climate. Many of the immigrants died. Today Tomakomai is an industrial and port city. # Tokyo Metropolitan University has about 8500 students. Hokkaidou University, where I previously worked, has about 18,000 students. Hokkaidou University is a national university, and Tokyo Metropolitan University is managed by Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Tokyo Metropolitan University does not have a medical school. This is because, I think, there are many medical schools at private universities in Tokyo and they are big tax-payers. They are big businesses and the tuition fees are very high. The Japanese believe that the university's status is determined by the difficulty of entrance examinations. They believe it also determined by the existence of medical school. They believe in the mass media. My teacher said that the university's status is determined by the size of the trees. In the sense, Hokkaidou university is No.1 in the country. There are large trees on the campus. They were planted by American teachers in the late 19th century. # As for Uzumaki Park (Spiral Park), the spiral shape is made with a waterway. It is part of a long artificial waterway along a pedestrian street. Howerver, today there is no water in the waterway. It is like Kare-sansui (dry garden), but water flows during a heavy rain. Mr. Miyamoto, a former UR employee, informed us that brown rectangular boxes along the waterway put pressure to their flow. The boxes (ponpu-seigyo-ban) are smaller than electric distribution boxes (bunden-ban), which resemble snow melting boxes in Sapporo. I heard that the water was stopped for sanitary reasons. It was already stopped when I moved to Tokyo in 2021. I think that the true reason must be the cost. Water is heavy, so it takes energy to move water. (Souvenir wines are precious). In Nakagou Park near the station, there are an artificial pond and an artificial waterfall. The water in them has also stopped. On the other hand, plenty of water flows along Seseragi-ryokudou (greenery and stream path), because a large reservoir exists in the upstream. It is located in Nagaike Park. There is a replica of a hand pump in Oohira Park on a hill. It reminded me of the importance of water. (And the importance water in voyage in the Age of Sail). # The apartments at Belle Coline have a uniform design. Although each block has variations, there are standards devised by master architects (by Professor Okamura at Town Planning Seminar's excursion). These are example; there is a roof over an apartment building; the roof has a specific angle; the roof is covered with roof tiles; the color of the roof tile is orange. The regulations make a Europe-like landscape. It looks like a town of plastic models. (Like something appeared from a dream.) There are no electricity poles in Belle Coline. It is like a tourist destination (for example, electricity poles were removed in the old post towns Narai and Magome). Electricity poles can be found; (1) along motorways, (2) in residential areas developed by companies, and (3) in new town apartments built in the early 1980s. I like old electricity poles. # Some apartments of Belle Colline have small windows on the side. The small windows remind me of a rock house in Scotland and an adobe house in the desert. They also remind me of the limitations of time and space. Today, houses and apartments have large windows, through which people can worship the sun from air-conditioned rooms. The sun gives its blessings equally to everyone. Its energy is infinite (for human beings). The former generation believed that if they did much more, they could get much more. They built houses with large windows. # A shrine is located at the foot of a hill (adjacent to the campus). The name is Hachiman Shrine. The red of the main building and Torii gate stands out in front of the green hill. Sometimes the sound of traditional flute wafts from the shrine. It creates a sound-scape. The shrine was built in 1579. It was around the time the settlement was established. Tiny red shrines at houses in the district signify that the families are parishioners (Ujiko) of the shrine and have a long history. Even after land readjustment during new town development, tiny shrines at houses remained. In my hometown, the shrine (Inada-hime) had parishioners in a wide area, but the number is decreasing. Last year, several families in a village where my parents live stopped being parishioners, because keeping a part of the deity is a burden because the shrine is far from the village and there are no successors at homes. In rural areas, ties between families were weakening as well as urban areas. Shrines cannot stop it. X. Bibliography A. Hiraoka 2008. ``Chizu-de-yomi-toku-nihon-no-chiiki-henbou [Geographical changes in regions of Japan].'' Ootsu; Kaiseisha. T. Ichikawa 1993. ``Nihon-no-shiki-to-kurashi [Four seasons and life of Japan].'' Tokyo; Kokon-shoin. Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo Prefecture & Yokohama City 2015. ``Sakaigawa-suikei- kasen-seibi-keikaku [Project for the improvement of the Sakai River System]'' https://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/documents/10592/764955.pdf T. Kikuchi et al. 2023. Development of new town in harmony with nature. ``E-journal GEO'' 18, 357-360. (in Japanese) H. Maruyama 2010. ``Brazil-nihon-imin [Centurial trajectory of Japanese immigrants in Brazil].'' Tokyo; Akashi-shoten. T. Nihei 2000. Maintain mechanism of chrysanthemum cultivation in terms of production-distribution basis. ``Journal of Geography'' 109, 383-400 (pictorial 2). (in Japanese) T. Nihei 2018. ``Regional geography of Japan.'' Sapporo; Hokkaidou University Press. Nihei's lab 2020. Dictionary of Iburi. ``Hokkaidou Atlas & Gazetteer'' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385725144 Nihei's lab 2021. Dictionary of Oshima & Hiyama. ``Hokkaidou Atlas & Gazetteer'' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/386274978 Nihei's lab 2025. Universal spelling of place names in Japan. ``Campus Note'' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389883147 A. Oka et al. 2019. Regional characteristics of heavy summertime rainfall in and around urban Tokyo from the viewpoint of the spatial extent of rainfall area. ``E-jouranl GEO'' 14, 233-245. (in Japanese) I. Saito ed. 2006. ``Chuuou-nihon ni okeru bonchi no chiikisei [Regional characteristics of basins in central Japan].'' Tokyo; Kokon-shoin. Tokyo-to-kankyou-kyoku [Bureau of Environment, Tokyo Metropolitan Government], 2023. ``Tokyo-no-chikei [Topography of Tokyo]'' https://www. kankyo1.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/groundwater/1227/pdf/ Sustainablegroundwater_1_3.pdf UR East Japan Region 2022. ``New town-jigyou-no-keifu [Genealogy of new town projects].'' Tokyo; Urban Renaissance Agency. End Of File