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Tohoku Regional Forest Office presents two English-speaking guided day tours to the Shirakami-Sanchi World Natural Heritage and its surrounding areas in October 2014. Join us to explore the distinctive forests of Shirakami-Sanchi in autumn colours! |
Shirakami-Sanchi (白神山地) is a mountainous region situated across the border between Aomori and Akita Prefectures in north Japan, ranging approximately from 200m to 1,250m in altitude. It contains the largest expanse of beech forest in East Asia, which has remained almost undisturbed since its establishment around 8,000-12,000 years ago.
In order to protect this valuable forest ecosystem and conserve it for the future generations, Forestry Agency has managed the central part of Shirakami-Sanchi (16,971 hectares of National Forest) as a Forest Ecosystem Reserve since 1990. The same area was also designated as a World Natural Heritage in 1993.
Tohoku Regional Forest Office offers a range of guided tours to Shirakami-Sanchi every year. These are conducted by the Office's Tsugaru-Shirakami and Fujisato Forest Ecosystem Conservation Centers. English-speaking guided tours are available for the first time this year.
- outside the Aomori-City Council Office Building (2-1-1 Yanagawa, Aomori, Aomori Pref) at 7:00am,
- JR Aomori Station (West Exit) at 7:10am, or
- JR Shin-Aomori Station (East Exit) at 7:20am
＊Anmon Falls (暗門の滝)
These are a series of three impressive waterfalls along the Anmon River, located in the Buffer Area of the World Heritage Area. You walk upstream of the river and it takes about 2 hours to reach the last of the Falls. This has been one of the most popularly visited places in Shirakami-Sanchi both now and in the past.
＊Tsurube-otoshi Pass (釣瓶落峠)
It lies across the border between Aomori and Akita Prefectures and is famous for splendid autumn colours covering its steep mountain slopes. It is also intersting to see differences in forest composition between the two sides.
- JR Higashi-Noshiro Station at 8:00am, or
- Road Station Minehama (car park) at 8:25am
＊Futatsumori (二ツ森)
It is a mountain with its 1,086m-peak located on the border between Aomori and Akita Prefectures in the Buffer Area of the World Heritage Area. From the end of the Seishu Forest Road, it is about an hour-trek to the peak. Weather permitting, you can see a great panorama of Shirakami-Sanchi as well as the sea to the west and Mt Iwaki to the north-east.
＊Tomeyama (留山)
It is a beautiful beech forest with trees aged over 300 years. To protect the forest as a source of water, logging has been prohibited since the Edo Period (17-19th centuries), hence its name: 'Tome' (meaning 'to refrain (from logging)') -'yama' (meaning 'mountain' or 'forest'). This place is only accessible with a qualified tour guide.
For either tour, bookings are accepted only via email to t_shidou@rinya.maff.go.jp, between Monday 25 August and Monday 8 September. Twenty places are availble for each tour; if the number of applicants exceeds 20, participants will be selected by lot.
Fees will be collected on site: 200 yen for Tour 1 and 3,000 yen for Tour 2. These include cost for insurance but exclude travel expenses to the meeting places.
You will be asked to bring your own lunch and drink with you and to wear clothing suitable for trekking.
Please also note that the tours are subject to cancellation in case of bad weather.
For more information, please contact Ms Y Kumagai in the Forestry Technology Development and Dissemination Division at Tohoku Regional Forest Office (t_shidou@rinya.maff.go.jp / +81 (0)18-836-2218).
森林整備部技術普及課
担当者：緑の普及係
ダイヤルイン：018-836-2218
FAX：018-836-2012
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