Shizuoka: Event Held to Mark New Park under Construction in Shizuoka Prefecture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:02 JST, September 6, 2023

IZUNOKUNI, Shizuoka — Last month, more than 600 residents and others gathered at Kanogawa Kamishima Park on a riverbank in the city of Izunokuni, Shizuoka Prefecture, ahead of its official opening in October. The event, which was held to mark the completion of the park’s core facilities such as a grass field and a multipurpose square, took place on a bank of the Kano River, where the 140,000-square-meter park is under construction.

The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Industry and the city government are jointly developing the park which is expected to be a new activities hub and will feature a dog run and an off-road bicycle course, built by making use of the riverbank’s geographical features.

About 60 members of Izu Junior Brass, a brass band comprising local elementary, junior high and high school students, celebrated the event with fanfare. The park’s nickname was decided as Kawa-no-Eki Izu-Joyama, based on ideas suggested by the public.

“We want to develop the park into a center of outdoor sports in the northern Izu area and Japan’s No. 1 Kawa-no-Eki rest area,” said Mayor Masayuki Yamashita, who attended the event.