Japan's national parks are not to be taken for granted; history shows their existence to be hard won.
Tsuyoshi Tamura (1890-1979), the landscapist who became the architect of the national parks project, traces their origin to the advocacy of one man, the Meiji Era (1868-1912) peer and justice minister Okabe Nagamoto (1855-1925).
While living in the U.S. in the 1870s and early 1880s, Okabe visited Yellowstone, established in 1872 as the U.S. first national park. Filled with the vision of emulating the park in his native country, Okabe returned to Japan and began his campaign.
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