Water in the City

This paper combines a personal literary reflection with critical commentary, both centering on the interrelationships between people, water, and the urban natural environment. It incorporates journal observations based on the life around a city pond and an essay considering the possibilities of finding, appreciating, and preserving nature in the city. The focus is on Shinobazu Pond in Tokyo's Ueno Park and how this place has affected the writer's life and thoughts about urban nature. In this essay, I reflect on the importance of the pond and its surrounding ecosystem within the web of human and nonhuman life in the city, pointing to some of the ways in which human culture, including stories and literature, can play a vital part in preserving the natural world in the city and beyond.