The Japanese Alps

In short

The mountains

Chubu-Sangaku National Park covers the whole Northern Alps area. It is made up of 3,000-meter-class mountains: the Ushiro-Tateyama range with Mount Shirouma, the Tateyama range with Mount Tsurugi and Mount Tateyama, the Hotaka range with Mount Yari, and Mount Norikura in the far south.

The park was set up on December 4, 1934, as one of Japan’s first national parks. It covers 174,323 hectares in Niigata, Toyama, Nagano and Gifu.

How they were made

A large fault runs along the east side of the Northern Alps. The mountains were made by movements of the Earth’s crust and heavy erosion after that, and volcanic activity made the land even more complex.

There are many cirques and U-shaped valleys carved by glaciers, such as the cirques of Tateyama, Mount Yakushi and Karasawa. Snowfields last into the summer.

Life in the high mountains

Asian black bears, Japanese serows, Japanese macaques and stoats live in the park. Birds include golden eagles, mountain hawk-eagles, rock ptarmigans and spotted nutcrackers.

The park is special for animals that live mainly in the alpine zone, such as the rock ptarmigan and alpine butterflies.

The name “Japanese Alps”

In the Meiji era, the English engineer W. Gowland, who is said to have been the first to climb mountains in Japan in the Western style, named the mountains including this area the “Japanese Alps”.

Think about it

• Q1Why would glaciers leave U-shaped valleys?
• Q2Why do you think a foreign visitor gave these mountains a European name?
• Q3Which high mountains are there in your country? Are they protected?

There is no single right answer. Talking it over with someone at home is a good way to learn.