2024 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 145-151
This paper first presents primary mountain-related activities in Japan that have taken place beyond the International Year of Mountains (IYM) in 2002. Subsequently, it summarizes the prevailing issues related to mountain environments in Japan, particularly based on the discourse at the IYM+20 Symposium held in December 2022, and discusses the path towards the future sustainability of the mountain environments and development in Japan. One of the most notable achievements highlighted in this paper is the establishment of Mountain Day (yama-no-hi in Japanese) as a national holiday in Japan. This reflects the longstanding and close connection between the Japanese people and mountains, while the establishment of Japan’s Mountain Day is also linked to the fact that many challenges persist regarding the mountains. In the future, Japan will grapple with an increasingly severe decline in birth rates and an aging society, a situation that has never been encountered before. This will require a new strategy for addressing mountain-related issues. This paper concludes by summarizing the discussions at the symposium and identifying the key issues that need to be addressed based on emerging science and technology.
