A tiny park roughly the size of a newspaper in the Japanese town of Nagaizumi currently holds the Guinness Record for ‘world’s smallest park’.

A decade ago, we wrote about Mill Ends Park, the former world’s smallest park. At just two meters in diameter, it only had room for one tree and a few tiny plants, but it was of decent size compared to the newly crowned smallest park on Earth. Located a short distance from Nagaizumi town hall, in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, the tiny park measures 2.6 square feet and consists of a tiny patch of grass, a couple of stone plaques, and a stool for visitors to sit on and admire their surroundings. The park has reportedly been around since the late 1980s, but it was only recently recognized by Guinness Records as the world’s smallest recreational park.

Photo: Guinness Records

Shuji Koyama, team leader at the construction management division of Nagaizumi Town, told Guinness that the tiny park was created in 1988 to make the best use of free space on the road, after being inspired by the findings of a staff member who had recently traveled to the United States.

“Back then, a staff member went on a holiday to the US, and they found the previous record holder for the smallest park – Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon,” Koyama said. “So they wanted to create an even smaller park.”

 

The people of Nagaizumi have been calling the miniature venue ‘the world’s smallest park’ for a very long time, and people visiting the small town often seek it out for photo ops, but Guinness officially acknowledged its record status last month. A professional surveyor was brought in to measure the exact area of the park and ensure that it met the prerequisite condition to be recognized as a park –  a green space where people (or at least one person) can rest and relax.

“We want to continue maintaining the park with the community, as well as creating a landscape that is more social media friendly so that even more people will find attractions of our town,” Shuji Koyama said.