Park-PFI in Kanagawa Prefecture — Cases from Yokohama, Yokosuka, and Manazuru [2026 Edition]
Park-PFI case studies from Kanagawa Prefecture: Yokohama City's large-scale urban park development, Yokosuka City's initiatives, and Manazuru Town's small-scale case combining Small Concession with park activation. A comparative analysis across population scales, locations, and business types.
TL;DR
- Kanagawa Prefecture spans a diverse range — from Yokohama City (3.74 million) to Manazuru Town (6,500) — making it a rare prefecture where urban, peri-urban, and small-municipality Park-PFI cases coexist
- Yokohama City is advancing Park-PFI across multiple parks, forming cases featuring mixed-use complexes and sports facilities suited to a major city
- Manazuru Town, with a population of 6,500, is pioneering an innovative combination of Small Concession and park activation
Overview of Kanagawa Prefecture's Urban Parks
Kanagawa Prefecture is one of the prefectures with some of Japan's highest urban park development levels, with a layered landscape of parks managed by two designated cities (Yokohama and Kawasaki), one core city (Sagamihara), and individual municipalities. In terms of population, the prefecture spans from Yokohama City (3.74 million) to Manazuru Town (approximately 6,500), creating a rare region where urban, peri-urban, and rural Park-PFI cases coexist within the same prefecture.
Three-Tier Park Management Structure
Park management in Kanagawa is broadly organized across three tiers.
Tier 1: Prefectural Parks
The Kanagawa Park Association manages prefectural parks under designated manager agreements. These include broad natural parks and regional parks in areas such as Tanzawa, Oyama, and Shonan. Several are large enough to attract interest as potential Park-PFI sites.
Tier 2: Urban Parks of Designated and Core Cities
Yokohama, Kawasaki, and Sagamihara each have their own park management systems and are actively developing (or considering) Park-PFI and related approaches. Yokohama City is leading the prefecture by implementing Park-PFI in major parks across the city.
Tier 3: Municipal Parks of Cities and Towns
This tier ranges from general cities to small municipalities like Manazuru Town. While small municipalities face challenges of budget constraints and limited staffing, advanced cases have emerged that leverage support programs like Small Concession.
Yokohama City Cases
Park-PFI deployment across multiple parks in a 3.74-million city, with diversifying business types
Yokohama City is one of Japan's largest designated cities, managing approximately 2,700 urban parks and green spaces. As aging facilities and rising maintenance costs have become visible fiscal challenges, introducing private-sector energy through Park-PFI has become a critical policy instrument.
Yokohama City's Park-PFI Policy Direction
Yokohama City has stated a proactive policy of utilizing Park-PFI (revenue facility placement and management permits) as part of its approach to harnessing private-sector capacity in urban parks. Active consideration is underway for both large-scale parks and ward-level parks.
Characteristics of Yokohama City's Park-PFI deployment:
- Mixed-use development at major parks: Parks with strong visitor draw — such as Minato-no-Mieru Oka Park, Yamashita Park, and Mitsuzawa Park — are under consideration for combinations of cafés, dining, and sports facilities
- Small-scale deployment at ward parks: Park-PFI on a smaller scale is also being explored for ward parks across the city, with business types centered on resident needs (childcare support, sports)
- Designing coexistence with existing private operators: Given the density of private dining and service businesses in Yokohama, the business type and location of park revenue facilities must be designed carefully to avoid competing with surrounding commercial operators
Conditions and Considerations for Yokohama City
In a large city of Yokohama's scale, private-sector interest in Park-PFI is high, but several specific challenges exist.
Challenge 1: Competition with surrounding private operators
Major parks in Yokohama are surrounded by well-established private cafés, restaurants, and fitness facilities. Designing solicitation conditions that avoid the "crowding out private businesses" criticism requires careful differentiation of business types and thoughtful location planning.
Challenge 2: Compatibility with landscape and urban design
Yokohama has a strong civic identity around urban landscape, and construction in historically significant areas such as Yamashita Park and Minato-no-Mieru Oka Park must align with the Yokohama Landscape Plan. Higher design standards for building height, exterior design, and materials are required compared to typical Park-PFI projects.
Challenge 3: Building consensus with local residents
Yokohama's parks are heavily used by local residents in their daily lives, and voices calling for "preserving quiet parks" tend to emerge in response to revenue facility proposals. Prior resident briefings and park usage surveys are essential before market sounding begins.
Yokosuka City Initiatives
Park activation challenges and planning status in a city of 400,000
Yokosuka City is a core city with a population of approximately 400,000 (as of 2024), located at the southern tip of the Miura Peninsula with terrain rich in coastal, hillside, and natural resources. The city manages numerous parks within its boundaries, and linking park activation to tourism and regional revitalization has emerged as an important policy agenda.
Potential and Challenges for Yokosuka City
Location advantage: The coastal and hillside natural resources of the Miura Peninsula have high affinity with revenue-generating facilities tied to tourism demand — glamping, seaside cafés, outdoor sports facilities. Access from the Tokyo metropolitan area (Yokosuka Line and Keikyu Line) is good, creating realistic expectations for day-trip visitor draw.
Challenge: Responding to population decline
Yokosuka City is one of the most notable examples of population decline among Metropolitan Tokyo-area cities. Setting a park activation concept that simultaneously serves local residents' convenience and attracts visitors from outside the city is a required design consideration.
Challenge: Proximity to the naval base
Areas adjacent to Yokosuka Naval Base are subject to land use restrictions and construction regulations, requiring verification of institutional constraints related to park development.
Future potential: Park-PFI deployment at Mikasa Park (a symbolically important park adjacent to the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Mikasa and Yokosuka Naval Base) and Kannonzaki Park (a nature-rich prefectural park) is attracting attention from tourism and city branding perspectives. Park-PFI in Yokosuka is increasingly seen as a policy that can simultaneously address urban fiscal challenges and tourism revitalization.
→ For guidance on conducting market sounding, see Park-PFI Market Sounding.
Manazuru Town's Small Concession Case
Manazuru Town is a small municipality of approximately 6,500 residents located south of Odawara City in Kanagawa Prefecture. With a total area of approximately 7.03 km², it is an extremely compact municipality, but it is known for a distinctive approach to local development that leverages the rich natural environment, landscapes, and fishing culture of the Manazuru Peninsula.
Background of Manazuru Town's Small Concession Selection
In the MLIT's Small Concession Formation Promotion Project, Manazuru Town was selected as one of seven municipalities to receive support. Within Kanagawa Prefecture, Manazuru Town is the only selected municipality, and its population scale, location, and distinct challenges have attracted national attention.
Target Facilities and Challenges in Manazuru Town
Manazuru Town faces the challenge of activating former public facilities, including the site of the former Manazuru Town Municipal Middle School and related buildings. These post-school facilities are aging, but their location in the rare natural environment of the Manazuru Peninsula gives them potential as tourism accommodation, dining, and experiential destinations.
In combination with parks, integrated activation of the Manazuru Seaside Park area (sea swimming, tide-pool exploration, campsite) adjacent to Manazuru Port and the former public facilities is under consideration. If realized, the natural resources of the park (sea, rocky shores, sandy beach) and the functions of the former buildings (accommodation, dining) would complement each other, potentially accelerating the transformation of the entire Manazuru Peninsula into a tourism hub.
Characteristics and Challenges of the Manazuru Model
Feature 1: A model for small municipalities
The effort to combine Small Concession with park activation in a municipality of 6,500 people is significant as a demonstration that "we can do this too" for similarly sized municipalities. By utilizing the support of Small Concession specialist dispatch, this case can serve as a precedent showing that project development is achievable even in small municipalities with limited staff capacity.
Feature 2: Leveraging the natural environment brand
The Manazuru Peninsula is designated as a "Preserved Forest" (Ohayashi) and a landscape formation zone under strict environmental protections. However, these very constraints simultaneously create brand value as "an experience within protected nature." Combinations with glamping, nature-based activities, and environmental education are highly appropriate.
Challenge: Finding operators and securing commercial viability
In a local market of only 6,500 people, standalone revenue facility operation is difficult. Drawing visitors from core cities within Kanagawa (Yokohama, Kawasaki, Yokosuka, Odawara) and the broader Tokyo metropolitan area is a prerequisite for viability. This in turn requires improvements in transportation access and coordination with tourism promotion efforts.
→ For details on the specialist dispatch program for Small Concession, see Small Concession Expert Dispatch Guide.
Future Trends in the Prefecture
Direction of Park-PFI and Small Concession promotion across Kanagawa and anticipated developments
Kanagawa Prefecture's Broader Direction for Park-PFI and Small Concession
Kanagawa Prefecture, situated in the Tokyo metropolitan area, has among the highest private-sector interest in Park-PFI nationwide. Three directional trends are expected to shape future developments.
Direction 1: Leadership from Yokohama and Kawasaki
As the two designated cities push forward with active Park-PFI promotion, spillover effects will reach smaller municipalities within the prefecture. Success cases and operational know-how accumulated in the major cities will serve as reference models for smaller municipalities.
Direction 2: Integration with tourism resources (Shonan, Miura, Hakone, Ashigara)
Kanagawa Prefecture has diverse tourism assets — Shonan, Enoshima, the Miura Peninsula, Hakone, and the Ashigara region. Linking park activation with these tourism resources generates visitor drawing power that no individual park could achieve on its own.
Direction 3: Expanding Small Concession adoption in smaller municipalities
With the Manazuru Town case as a pioneer, it is hoped that Small Concession and Park-PFI adoption will spread to smaller and medium-sized municipalities such as Odawara City, Zushi City, Hayama Town, and Minamiashigara City.
Actions for Kanagawa-Based Practitioners to Take Now
- Information gathering: Study Yokohama City's cases as a model. Benchmark against similar parks in your municipality.
- Consider conducting market sounding: Start by assessing private-sector demand. Approach local tourism operators and restaurant businesses.
- Register with the Small Concession Platform: Consider registering your municipality with the Small Concession platform established by MLIT.
- Explore inter-municipal cooperation: Investigate the possibility of developing projects through information sharing and regional collaboration among Kanagawa municipalities.
→ For nationwide statistics and policy trends, see Park-PFI Latest Cases and Statistics [2026 Edition].
References
Park-PFI and Related Utilization (2025)
Yokohama City Parks and Green Spaces (2025)
Kanagawa Park Association — Flowers and Green Information Site (2025)
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