To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The Yomiuri Shimbun Riders go around a pump track at Kisogawa Maedo Minami Park, also known as Kakamigahara Watashino Park, in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
12:20 JST, January 8, 2025
KAKAMIGAHARA, Gifu — A park with BMX courses has opened in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture.
The asphalt tracks at Kisogawa Maedo Minami Park, also known as Kakamigahara Watashino Park, were designed with input from a professional BMX cyclist and are free to use.
The park also has glamping facilities, where people cannot stay overnight but can enjoy their day near the Kiso River.
The park is about 2 hectares, and the BMX park has beginner and intermediate level pump tracks — circuits that have a series of bumps. Reservations are unnecessary and bicycles are available to rent.
Kazuki Shimizu, a 32-year-old professional rider who has won the Asian Mountain Bike Continental Championships and other events, served as a consultant on the track’s design. “Most of the courses are usually made of dirt, but asphalt is more stable, and riders can go faster on it,” Shimizu said.
When the park opened on Dec. 14, Shimizu and others demonstrated various tricks and also held a trial session for visitors.
“It’s easy to go really fast. I want to practice here again and be able to jump,” said Mao Iida, an 8-year-old from Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture.
Trial sessions will be held regularly.
“I hope first-timers will feel free to come,” Shimizu said.
The park also has a glamping facility, which comprises five buildings equipped with air conditioning and heating. Visitors can barbecue on the grounds but cannot stay overnight. The area also has a store that sells snacks and drinks, as well as a grassy area. The playground, which has a slide and other equipment for children, was designed with input from students of Inabahigashi Elementary School in Kakamigahara.
Aiming to take advantage of the Kiso River’s riverbed and levee areas, the city government developed a plan in fiscal 2014 to build the park. To make the park a place where people from different areas and of all ages can interact with each other, the city adopted the Park-PFI public solicitation system, which utilizes ideas and funds from the private sector.
In principle, the park is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is closed on Tuesdays and during the year-end and New Year’s holidays. The glamping facilities require advanced reservations, which will start being accepted at around the end of January.
