Satoru Kato
Sougo KATO
Leaf Rain Co.
After working for a financial institution researching companies in the high-tech field, he worked as a supervisor at a landscape construction site before setting up his own business. He is interested in the materials industry, renewable energy, and wood utilization, and in recent years he has been writing about the forestry industry. With his experience of working in the forests in the past, he aims to write articles that explore the connection between the realities of the field and the industrial structure.
5.27Wed 2026
How to compensate for the "one man-made" situation in the field: The next issue in smart forestry will be labor-saving technologies such as drones for transporting saplings.
The focus of forestry DX is beginning to expand from the advancement of forestry information to the safety and labor saving of field work. In the past, smart forestry [...].
4.28Tuesday, 2026
How to Design the "Entrance" to Forest Services: Hinohara Village's Linkage of Small Centers to Attract Urban Dwellers
Cultural Use of Forests in Europe In recent years, the cultural value of forests, which goes beyond timber production, and the forest services that take advantage of this value [...]...
3.26Thu 2026
How to connect the construction and forestry industries - A collaborative model to transform road network maintenance into "infrastructure maintenance and management
In recent years, Japan's forestry industry has seen a series of demonstration experiments by different industries, including IT companies and machinery manufacturers, against the backdrop of smart forestry and DX. [...].
2.16Mon 2026
Rethinking Wooden Construction from the Field: 3] Streamlining Processes in an Era of Labor Shortages: Four Conditions for the Spread of Wooden Construction
The first article summarizes the construction advantages that wood construction has against labor shortages and skill saving, and the second article discusses the advantages that wood construction has against on-site [...].
1.15Thu 2026
Reconsidering Wooden Construction from the "Construction Site" Perspective: 2] Industrialization and Standardization of Construction Processes to Maximize the Merits of Wood Construction
As we saw in the first article, wooden construction is a reality for a construction industry facing a skills shortage and declining productivity, allowing for industrialization and skill reduction [...].
12.15Mon 2025
Rethinking Wooden Architecture from the "Field": 1 In a construction industry facing skill shortages and reduced labor requirements, wooden construction emerges as a practical solution.
The expansion of wooden construction in Japan is driven by policy demands such as decarbonization and the use of domestic timber. However, at the site level, another crucial factor cannot be overlooked [...]
11.17Mon 2025
Geothermal Power Generation: A Circulation Model of Local Production for Local Consumption New Possibilities for Forest Resources Demonstrated by the Independence of Minami-Kayabe and the Cooperative Model of Okuhida
In the domestic geothermal power industry, small- to medium-scale, self-sustaining models have begun to emerge. The symbolic examples are Minami-Kayabe in Hokkaido and Okuhida in Gifu [...].
10.15Wed 2025
Forests that are in circulation with water, food, and the local community
Memories of roasting homemade Tochimochi (rice cake with homemade bean paste) on the stove at a relative's house in the mountains of Shinshu, deep-frying thin-skinned chestnuts and eating them with a little [...].
9.17Wed 2025
Shinshu larch is going from a landscape resource to a forestry resource.
When one hears the words "Karuizawa" or "Hakuba," many people think of resort destinations. Fresh air, majestic mountains, Western-style architecture and villa culture. It [...].
8.13Wed 2025
Differentiation through collaboration with building material manufacturers and designers is the key to growth.
Total demand for lumber has been declining for a long time, especially for construction lumber, the main use of domestic lumber, which has shrunk due to the number of single-family housing starts and demographic [...].
7.15Tue 2025
Young people interested in forestry as a way of life.
Quiet changes are coming to the forestry industry. The forestry workforce is aging, and by 2020, 251 TP3T of the workforce will be over 65 years old [...].
