LWIF EP136: Why Japan Isn’t Cutting Down Enough of its Trees

Visit https://teamtrees.org and lets get some trees planted! #teamtrees I started off making this nice video about how Japan got its forests back through afforestation. Then I did too much researching on the Internet and came to the conclusion that Japan should be chopping down some of its trees. Trust me, it’ll all make sense once you watch the video… I hope. Special thanks to my Patreon supporters who help me make videos like this. Become a patron yourself at https://www.patreon.com/lifewhereimfrom. Info Sources

• Working With Woodlands: C. W. Nicol at TEDxTokyo (English) – https://youtu.be/Oa7PmrzdHTQ
• Satoyama: Japan’s Secret Water Garden (2004) – NHK
• Forest history and the Great Divergence : China, Japan, and the West compared by Saito, Osamu – https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/rs/bitstream/10086/18736/1/0101002801.pdf
• Grave of the Fireflies (1988) – Studio Ghibli
• Shimazu Nariakira – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimazu_Nariakira
• Japan’s Forests: From Lumber Source to Beloved Resource – https://www.nippon.com/en/features/c03913/japan%E2%80%99s-forests-from-lumber-source-to-beloved-resource.html
• Hay fever season gets people sneezing and talking – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2019/03/18/language/hay-fever-season-gets-people-sneezing-talking/#.XbQ-XOgzb8C
• Tokyo Metro Allergy Pollen Allergy Investigation (2016) – http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/tosei/hodohappyo/press/2017/12/18/documents/14_01.pdf
• State of Japan’s Forests and Forest Management – http://www.rinya.maff.go.jp/j/kaigai/pdf/countryreport-1.pdf and http://www.rinya.maff.go.jp/j/kaigai/pdf/countryreport-2.pdf
• Does management improve the carbon balance of forestry? – https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/90/1/125/2605858
• Protecting the Forests – https://www.nippon.com/en/features/c03912/
• ABOUT THE CONDITION OF JAPANESE FORESTS – https://www.japanfs.org/sp/en/news/archives/news_id027771.html
• Annual Report on Forest and Forestry in Japan (2017) – http://www.maff.go.jp/e/data/publish/attach/pdf/index-95.pdf
• Annual Report on Forest and Forestry in Japan (2016) – http://www.maff.go.jp/e/data/publish/attach/pdf/index-64.pdf
• Afforestation in Japan – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afforestation_in_Japan
• Japan’s Cedar Forests Are Man-Made Disaster – https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/17/science/japan-s-cedar-forests-are-man-made-disaster.html
• The Sneeze Trees: Ridding Japanese Forests of Pollen – https://www.nippon.com/en/nipponblog/m00081/the-sneeze-trees-ridding-japanese-forests-of-pollen.html
• Saving the planet through its trees – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2010/01/24/environment/saving-the-planet-through-its-trees/#.XbQ_pOgzb8B
• The Development of Japanese Forestry – https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/12526/1/9780774808828.pdf
• Japanese Forestation Policies During the 20 Years Following World War II – https://www.intechopen.com/books/precious-forests-precious-earth/japanese-forestation-policies-during-the-20-years-following-world-war-ii
• The Strange Story of Hay Fever in Japan: Construction, Conspiracy Theories, Climate Change – https://blog.gaijinpot.com/strange-story-hay-fever-japan/
• Thinning for forest health – https://oregonforests.org/thinning
• Biomass carbon sinks in Japanese forests: 1966 – 2012 – http://environmentportal.in/files/Nov-08-Csink-japan-jour.pdf
• More volunteers thinning forests – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/11/03/national/more-volunteers-thinning-forests/#.XbRAsOgzb8B

Image Sources

• Matthew Calbraith Perry By Mathew Brady – metmuseum.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17461041
• Commodore Perry’s Visit in 1854 By Wilhelm Heine – uk:Файл:Perry_03.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29931080
• 関ヶ原の戦い User LordAmeth on en.wikipediaCollection of The Town of Sekigahara Archive of History and Cultural Anthropology – http://www.sengoku-expo.net/flash/sekigahara/byoubu/byoubu_c.htmlhttp://inpaku02.iamas.ac.jp/sekigahara/byoubu/images/l/263.jpg, パブリック・ドメイン, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1028364による
• 徳川家康肖像画 狩野探幽 – 大阪城天守閣, パブリック・ドメイン, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9558314による
• Edo Castle, 17th century By Unknown – http://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/e_gallery/edozu/l12.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4811914
• David Attenborough at Great Barrier Reef.jpg By Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website – www.dfat.gov.au, CC BY 3.0 au, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66256741
• A daguerreotype of Shimazu Nariakira, taken by Ichiki Shirō (1828 – 1903) By Ichiki Shirō – various, including http://www.photojpn.org/notes/node.php?id=29 and Anne Tucker et al., The History of Japanese Photography. Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN 0300099258, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2851043
• The 1854 Shōhei Maru, Japan’s first Western warship, was built from Dutch technical drawings, under Nariakira. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=263880
• Japanese occupation of the Russian city of Khabarovsk during the Russian Civil War, 1919 By Tokyo : Shobido & Co – The US LOC image collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1015140
• 1937年、日本刀を仕込んだ明治19年制式の軍刀（佐官用）を佩用する陸軍歩兵大佐脇坂次朗歩兵第36連隊長、中央）。後方は昭和9年制式刀や九五式軍刀と思われる軍刀を佩用した将校・見習士官・下士官、および三十年式銃剣を着剣した三八式歩兵銃を持つ下士官・兵。連隊長を筆頭に「軍旗の敬礼」Sweeper tamonten – 支那事変写真全集<中>（朝日新聞、昭和13年発行）, パブリック・ドメイン, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3991859による
• Sugi avenue at the Togakushi shrine in Nagano By Chris 73 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1040911
• Hinoki Cypress, Tanzawa Mountains, Japan By Σ64 – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17253600
• Boeing B-29A-45-BN Superfortress 44-61784 6 BG 24 BS – Incendiary Journey.jpg By United States Army Air Force – United States Air Force Historical Research Agency – Maxwell AFB, Alabama from “History and Units of the United States Air Force”, G H J Sharrings, European Aviation Historical Society, 2004. Photo credit given as from USAFHRA., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10935871
• Part of Shizuoka after it was firebombed on 19 June 1945 By ‘AC/AS intelligence’ – www.japanairraids.org Direct link: http://www.japanairraids.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/A3823.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18577056
• Showa Steel Works.JPG By Kokusho-kankoukai – Japanese book “Nostalgia for Manchuria” published by Kokusho-kankoukai., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3295175
• Riau deforestation 2006.jpg By Aidenvironment, 2006 – flickr:Riau flickr user:Wakx, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10605283