11/15 Park Ranger Interview

One of the things I wanted to try doing in Japan was interview a Japanese National Park Ranger (or Nature Warden). Before coming to Japan, I knew very little about Japanese park rangers because there are less than 300 of them in the whole country, and pretty much all of the information is in Japanese.

At World Ranger Day in July 2024, I was able to meet a Japanese park ranger named Mari Takehara who works at Daisetsuzan National Park in Hokkaido. She was actually volunteering at American National Park Service locations while I was in Japan. She put me in contact with a ranger at Setonaikai National Park, whose office is in Matsuyama, named Ryota Nakayama.

Previously, I took a Park Ranger class at Sac State, where one of our major assignments is to interview a real life park ranger and ask various things. I wanted to try this in Japan.

In the morning, I visited his office with my tutor, Rin, and we had a long interview. I still don't know exactly what he said, but I'm sure I'll find out later! :)