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Chubu-Sangaku NP, Toyama
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In the Center’s September 2026 log, staff recorded 59 ptarmigan sighting reports on rainy, foggy September 26, compared with 13 on partly sunny September 25. They note that the birds often appear more in poor weather.
The Center’s field notes follow individual birds, including a male nicknamed Akao-kun. Staff recognized him by his red and blue leg bands near Midoriga-ike, where they watched him pry seeds from a dwarf-pine cone.
Visitors can report ptarmigan and stoat sightings to a wildlife-watch map limited to Tateyama and Murodo; the shared reports support conservation. People who report in person at the Center can receive a commemorative ptarmigan sticker.
Toyama schoolchildren’s Tateyama hikes are known as the “12-year-old challenge.” Since 2015, the Center has lent helmets for these school trips; in fiscal 2025, it loaned 950 helmets to 21 groups.
The Center marked its 50th anniversary in 2026, but its present building dates to 2000. Until 1999, it operated inside the earlier Tateyama Center, then moved beside Murodo Terminal.
Toyama was the first local government in Japan to create a volunteer nature-interpreter program, in 1974. Today, naturalists based at this Center lead 1–2-hour walks around Murodo and Mikuriga-ike.
