The park/disaster prevention area is being developed in preparation for the exposition.At the back right is Seya Citizen’s Forest, where the source of the Izumi River is located, in Seya Ward, Yokohama City.
The former site of the Kamiseya Communication Facility (Seya Ward, Asahi Ward, Yokohama City) was returned from the U.S. military nine years ago, and part of it will host the International Horticultural Expo in 2027. A natural ecosystem remains in the area, including the Aizawa River that flows through it, but the city plans to change the waterway through a land readjustment project and turn it into an underground culvert. “We will try to preserve the natural environment as much as possible,” he explains, but citizen groups active in the area are concerned that it could lead to the destruction of the ecosystem. (Makka Kamiya)
The approximately 242-hectare Kamiseya Communication Facility site will be divided into four areas: a park/disaster prevention area, a tourism/bustling area, a logistics area, and an agricultural promotion area. Parks and disaster prevention areas will primarily serve as exposition venues, and in tourist and bustling areas, a “complex customer attraction centering on a theme park” is scheduled to open in 2031.
In order to advance this land use plan, the city’s rezoning project will convert the Aizawa River, which lies upstream within the site, into a culvert. The waterway, which already has a concrete embankment, will be cut along the road around the site. Connecting with the original stream that continues outside the site, a waterside environment is created in a corner of the park/disaster prevention area. It will be used as a park even after the exposition.
Construction is also progressing on the south side of the district, which is connected to the headwaters of the Izumi River and where water gushes out, in preparation for an expo and park. The city wants to preserve the habitat for flora and fauna, including the endangered species of hotoke loach.
Mr. Miyajima shows us around a rice field that remains in a “touristy and lively area” in Seya Ward, Yokohama City.
However, Yukitoshi Miyajima (78), president of Seya Kankyo Net, a citizen group that has been active in the area since 2006, is concerned about further changes to the ecosystem that remains in the area. He questions the very idea of turning the center of the site into a theme park, saying it would “destroy a valuable ecosystem that still has many native species.”
On the 14th, Mr. Miyajima guided fieldwork participants to the site, which was conducted by the citizen volunteer “Learn about the Nature of Kamiseya Executive Committee.” “This is now the only rice field that is constantly filled with water,” he said, pointing to a small rice field that he rented from a landowner and cultivated in a part of the north side of the “tourist and bustling area.”
A biotope where pheasants take flight and dragonflies fly nearby. A former elementary school teacher, she has been involved in activities such as harvesting rice with the children in order to expose them to this environment. She says, “The environment is different just because there is water. Losing rice paddies will be a big blow to the ecosystem.”
There is also a rice field nearby that was used to grow rice using water from the Aizawa River, but now that development has been decided, it is unclear whether it will continue to be planted. The deadline for Seya Kankyo Net’s activities to continue locally is fast approaching.
A rice field cultivated by Seya Kankyo Net in a corner of the “tourist and bustling area”
Tags: Yokohama site International Horticultural Exposition site Kamiseya communication facility City plans culvert Aizawa River concerns ecosystem destruction Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web
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