Black swans swim calmly in the moat before Palaceside Building — familiar to Imperial Palace visitors.
Yet one of Kanto’s leading swan wintering sites — sometimes 1,000 birds — is in Inzai, Chiba (former Honno Village). Six mute swans landed in 1992 (Heisei 4), beginning local habitation. Media coverage grew; about 50,000 tourists visit annually.
Season is October–March; on the last Saturday of November a colleague counted about 100 — more will arrive.
In November 1992, Mitsuo Deyama, then Chiba wildlife protection commissioner, saw six swans on pond water for agricultural canal work before his home and began feeding alone though everyone said it was impossible — same clothes, same times, three times daily for 120 days; success took three years. Numbers grew to 125 by 1998; the “Honno Village Swan Protection Society” formed; the village embraced swans as its sole specialty — 500 in 2003, 800 in 2004, about 1,000 now.
Local warmth surely reaches the swans.
Best viewing: rice fields about 1 km southeast of Honno Second Elementary School. Nearest station JR Narita Line Kobayashi — about 2.5 km southeast. No big signs, but boards appear nearby and locals will guide you.