Geomorphological and Geoecological Evaluation in Relation to Tourism in the Tsugaru-Juniko Landslide Area, Japan

The Tsugaru-Juniko site was formed by a landslide due to an earthquake that occurred roughly 300 years ago. This study aimed to clarify the geomorphological and geoecological characteristics of the landslide area and to survey the movements and needs of tourists at the site. The findings revealed that most visitors, as recommended in tourism guide maps, spent 1–4 hours on the walking route, enjoying the natural scenery of the lakes and Siebold’s beech forest. While visitors had immense interest in topics such as the landslide-related origin of the lakes, and the relationship between topography and vegetation, no successful efforts had been made to spark their interest in the geoscientific aspects of the site. The currently visible topography resulting from the landslide includes remnants of hummocks, lobate ridges, boulders, and lake clusters. In addition, variations in plant species community compositions are due to landslide topography, with species common to the beech forest and to Japanese wingnut forests found, respectively, on the upper convex and lower concave slopes of a displaced block. A tour guide map including landslide-related information is also proposed as a result of this study.