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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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Around June, forest green tree frogs turn Hatcho Pond into a nursery: they lay foamy egg masses on branches above the water, and newly hatched tadpoles drop into the pond below.
Hatcho Pond was once thought to be a crater lake, but it is actually a fault lake: movement along a fault created a hollow at the head of a valley, where water collected.
“Hatcho” suggests an 8-chō (about 870 m) shoreline, but Izu City lists it at about 560 m. The pond is also called Aosu-no-ike, after the suzutake bamboo around its edge.
On June 2, 1930, Emperor Showa came to observe Hatcho Pond’s forest green tree frogs. The uphill and downhill routes still bear “Miyuki” (“imperial visit”) in their names.
A stone monument to the 1930 imperial visit was raised beside the pond in 1932. Local accounts say its stone was brought from Noguro on a sled pulled by a horse.
In cold winters, Hatcho Pond freezes over; people once used its ice as a natural skating rink. Environment Ministry rangers documented a full freeze here in January 2022.
A hut stood beside the pond from 1962 to 1977. Local historical accounts recall that its water wasn’t drinkable, so forestry workers carried drinking water up to the hut every day.
A small water deity stands on the pond’s northeast side. An Izu Peninsula Geopark field guide records that people once held rainmaking rites here, a reminder of the pond’s community significance.
The 716-ha Hatcho Pond–Kawakodaira protected forest spans strikingly different volcanic ages: Amagi’s volcano ceased activity about 150,000 years ago, while nearby Kawakodaira erupted about 3,200 years ago.
A national wildlife survey described Hatcho as a once-famous mass-breeding site for forest green tree frogs, but also recorded a dramatic decline. The frogs need branches over water and surrounding forest.
