Japan's national parks cover a wide range of environments including volcanoes, forests, marshes, beaches, coastlines and underwater marine habitats. Visitors to the parks can enjoy a variety of outdoor activities such as hiking, boating, fishing, snorkeling, diving and hot springs. Some parks have also established eco tourism activities such as whale and dolphin watching and guided nature hikes.
There are two legal classification of Japanese parks, natural parks and urban parks. Urban parks are created by central government or local bodies who acquire a certain area of land, and open it for public use. However, Natural Parks remain the property of various private individuals, and the natural landscape beauty is maintained by legislation restricting land use. The National Government Parks are large-scaled urban parks provided and maintained by the Government.
The size of parks varies from small such as the ones you see in the residential area to large such as Shouwa Kinen Park in Tokyo which takes you a few hours to walk from end to end. The purpose of them also varies, such as a place to communicate and rest and to preserve nature.