Yes, the park is in this photo, and its impact is greater than its size.
If you’re looking for the World’s Largest Park, you’ll need to head up to Northeast Greenland National Park, which is located mostly in the Arctic Circle. Measuring approximately 972,000 square kilometres (375,000 square miles), the park is larger than most countries, including Japan.
If you’re looking for the World’s Smallest Park, on the other hand, you’ll find it in Japan, specifically Shizuoka Prefecture, which is also home to our very own reporter Maro. Having lived in the prefecture for 30 years, Maro herself had no idea such a place existed, but as it was only officially recognized by the Guinness World Records in December last year, a lot of people in Japan are yet to learn about it.
▼ So Maro set out to find the special park.
▼ The park is located in Shizuoka’s Nagaizumi.
Though many may not be familiar with Nagaizumi, it’s actually held first spot in Japan’s “Livable Cities Ranking” for seven consecutive years. With good access to the city centre and ample childcare support, it’s a popular place to live, and its popularity is set to soar even further after receiving this big little accolade.
The one challenge facing visitors who come to look for the park is actually the ability to find it, given its tiny size. As you make your way along the side of the road, there’s very little green to be seen, but don’t give up, because as you come to this section of the street, you’ll see something unusual…
▼ …the World’s Smallest Park!
Sitting inside a brick enclosure you’ll find the plants and stone features that make up the world’s smallest park.
The coloured stone acts as a monument, with an inscription that reads “世界一小さな公園” (“World’s Smallest Park”).
▼ Beside it is a flat, polished stone adorned with flowers.
Standing beside the park will make you feel like a giant, as it’s only around 50 centimetres square, with an area of 0.24 square metres.
As we all know, parks are meant to be enjoyed by visitors, and there is a special way you can stop and soak up the ambience, by taking a seat inside the park.
▼ That’s right — the stool acts as a park bench.
As you enjoy everything the little park has to offer, you might feel a little self-conscious by the passing cars, but you needn’t be. The park is a local source of pride and joy, and they’re happy to see the sense of delight it brings people who stop by to visit.
In fact, as Maro was watching the world go by from the park, an election van slowly turned the corner in front of her and as it did, she heard an announcement blare from the speakers attached to the vehicle.
“I proposed that park!”
The announcement took Maro by surprise, and although she wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it, she smiled and waved back at the passenger who was waving at her. As the van disappeared into the distance, Maro took out her phone and ran a search for the park, where she found that it had indeed been created in 1988 as a playful project by a local government employee named Kazunori Shimoyama.
▼ Sure enough, the sign on the top of the campaign van read “山下かずのり” (“Kazunori Shimoyama”).
Election vehicles like these are used by candidates and their staff to broadcast greetings and messages to residents while driving through neighbourhoods, and Maro was floored by the coincidence of having the park’s creator drive by during her brief visit.
Looking into it further, she found that although the park had long been dubbed the world’s smallest by people in the surrounding area, through the support of locals it was formally recognised by Guinness 36 years after its founding.
You never know who you might meet at a park, and Maro felt a mysterious sense of destiny wash over her after her fateful encounter. Parks really do bring communities together in ways that we should never take for granted, and this tiny patch of nature is a testament to that.
With parks needing to exist for over five years and be surveyed in the presence of witnesses in order to be recognised by Guinness, we hope that this little park will remain the world’s number one for many years to come.
Site information
The World’s Smallest Park / 世界一小さな公園
Address: 静岡県駿東郡長泉町下土狩760-7
Shizuoka-ken, Sunto-gun, Nagaizumi, Shimotogari 760-7
Photos©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]
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