From a Tokyo Mudflat: High School Students Spread the Wonders and Possibilities of Nature and Living Creatures

The Mudflat Club Working on the Takeshiba Mudflat

The Takeshiba Mudflat was created in July 2020 with the aim of conserving and restoring the organisms and environment in the Takeshiba water area. The mudflat is opened to the public on the second Sunday of every month, known as the Takeshiba Mudflat Open Day. It has grown popular as a place where visitors can enjoy the view of Tokyo Bay and the nature of the Hama-rikyu Gardens close by.

The Mudflat Club at Shiba Commercial High School was founded to observe and convey the wonders of the various organisms living in the rich nature of the Takeshiba Mudflat. In 2019, a year before the Takeshiba Mudflat was completed, several students stood up to found the club, which was then launched in 2020 and is now run by their juniors. One of the projects that the founding members undertook was creating a picture book titled Visit to a Mudflat. They made the pop-up book for children, hoping to get as many people as possible to know about the mudflat. The book draws on what they learned from their club activities and tells a story about mudflats and the organisms living there.

Inheriting the will of their seniors and carrying on the club's activities are the current members including Taguchi Kumino and Araki Saaya in their second year and Oginuma Aya in her first year. Taguchi joined the club following in the footsteps of her older sister, who had also been a member, and Oginuma joined because she loved living creatures. Araki said she joined because, "I was already interested in environmental issues, and then I learned about the mudflat created for the purpose of conserving the environment and it got me interested."

Learning about the Wonders of Tokyo's Nature and Living Creatures from the Mudflat

All three members had been to the Takeshiba Mudflat before joining, but the club's activities got them to discover new wonders and realizations. Taguchi says she is attracted to the unique environment of the mudflat: "It is right in the middle of the city, but there is such a rich abundance of nature and it feels good being there. It is a special place where you can listen to the sound of the water, hear steam whistles and feel the wind swaying the grass and trees. I visit the mudflat even outside of club activities to refresh my mind, like when I get frustrated with studying."

Araki says she grew to like organisms that she was uncomfortable with before: "I came to love jellyfish after joining the Mudflat Club. You can find many moon jellyfish in the Takeshiba Mudflat, and once the sun sets, they get lit up by the ground lights and create a dreamlike scenery. It was a discovery and a surprise to learn that even though it is a manmade mudflat, various organisms have come together and are rebuilding an ecosystem."

Oginuma, who loved living creatures to begin with, says joining the Mudflat Club changed not only herself but also how others saw her: "I have always loved insects in particular, but most of my classmates did not. Since joining the Mudflat Club though, I have been able to talk openly about my passion for insects, and others have taken an interest in them too. That makes me really happy."

Undertaking Activities That Tie into Tokyo's Environmental Conservation

The Takeshiba Mudflat Open Day, held once a month, allows the club members to exchange opinions with mudflat researchers and also interact with children living nearby. Taguchi says that coming into contact with Takeshiba's nature and organisms and watching visitors have fun heightened her awareness of conserving the environment in Tokyo.

She says, "We learned about waste issues in class at school, but when I actually started to pick up trash on the mudflat, I was shocked to see how much of it really washes up, including microplastic waste. Seeing the situation up close made me talk to family and friends about protecting nature and organisms by not just stopping ourselves from throwing trash into nature but also making an effort to not produce waste at all."

Through their club activities, the three members learned the preciousness of nature and living creatures. Araki says their goal is to sell 200 copies of the picture book they inherited from their seniors, Visit to a Mudflat, and continue communicating the wonders of the Takeshiba Mudflat.

She says, "If our seniors' picture book is the entrance into getting people to know about mudflats, we want to create opportunities that will get them thinking more deeply about environmental issues and the ecosystem. We are still brainstorming ideas, like holding interactive events during Open Day or using social media, but we want to deliver content that will allow people to learn about the Takeshiba Mudflat in a fun way."

Mudflat Club of Tokyo Metropolitan Shiba Commercial High School

The Mudflat Club, since being founded in 2019, works on the Takeshiba Mudflat, located close to the school. In 2023, the club used crowdfunding to print the picture book Visit to a Mudflat. The club won first place in the Tokyo Metropolitan Student Commercial Research Presentation Contest.