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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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In the school’s 2025 “Become a Fisher” program, children explored a river, caught rainbow trout, cleaned them themselves, then charcoal-grilled their catch—a hands-on lesson in the life behind a meal.
Fuji’s foothills hold nearly 150 lava caves, and this school brings one indoors: its walk-through cave diorama comes with a helmet, flashlight and a little explorer’s mission.
The grounds’ pond is called Akagaeru Pond, but the foam nests in its trees belong to the tree-climbing Japanese moriaogaeru. Each foamy egg mass can hold 300–800 eggs, suspended above the water.
In 2026, a spring forest-kindergarten session began by smelling and comparing wild plants, then families made pancakes with the plants they had gathered. The walk ended with a snack made from the landscape.
The school’s grass roof is more than decoration: evaporation cools it in summer and soil insulates it, while buried “cool tubes” draw in cooler forest air. Solar panels even power the roof-watering pump.
The school installed a flying-squirrel nest box because large trees that the animals use for homes are scarce. At dusk, a parent and young may emerge, so staff ask watchers to keep quiet.
Before the schoolhouse opened in 2000, the Environment Agency began event-style nature-school programs here in 1997. Lake Tanuki was the first site in a national program for nature experiences in national parks.
Green oak twigs on the school’s forest floor may be insect handiwork: the female gray acorn weevil drills an egg into an acorn, then nips off its twig. Its larva gets a pantry and nursery in one.
A university field report describes neighborhood knowledge flowing both ways: local elementary pupils displayed their research at the school, while older residents taught traditional games.
One free activity is an animal “sports day”: visitors test their jump against a deer, strength against a beetle and breath-holding against a whale, then answer a quiz for a gold medal.
The two-story building doubles as a camouflage lesson: tiny animal figures are hidden inside, and a free scavenger hunt trains visitors to notice creatures that are trying not to be seen.
