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Forest Culture, Arts & Media

Forests as cultural assets and the cultural assets created from them

8.18Tuesday, 2026

Why Do Forests Captivate People, and Why Are Authors Who Write About Forests So Passionate? … A Year Spent Engaging with a Classic Work

The Beginning of My Column Writing It has been a little over a year since this website, “Forest Circular Economy,” was launched. The number of visitors has been steadily increasing […]

8.12Wed 2026

Experiencing the Value of the Forest Through the Five Senses — Five Women Share Their Stories of “Dialogue with Nature and a Lifestyle That Challenges Conventional Values” [Report from the Forest Women’s Practice Conference]

We held the online event “Forest Women’s Action Conference—Women Shaping Forests and Communities” on July 17. The theme for this summer was “Self […]

8.10Mon 2026

Forestry Policy and Forestry Economic Surveys That Continued Uninterrupted During and After the War, and Daily Life: The Diary of Kinzo Shimada, Written Night After Night Amid Air Raids

Kinzō Shimada (1903–1992) served as a professor at the Imperial University of Tokyo and the University of Tokyo, as well as a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture, and as president of the Greater Japan Forestry Association, among other positions. He was a Shō […]

7.3Fri 2026

The trees lining the water’s edge that adorn Tokyo’s only waterfront landscape: the metasequoia grove that has become the symbol of Mizumoto Park

When it comes to “water towns,” places like Itako in Ibaraki Prefecture are well-known in the Kanto region, but there are also parks within Tokyo’s 23 wards where you can enjoy the scenery of a “water town” […]

6.22Mon 2026

Forest Women’s Action Conference—Women Shaping Forests and Communities
A Dialogue with Nature, a Way of Life That Challenges Our Values
Friday, July 17, 2026, 12:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m. | Online

“Forest Circular Economy” takes a multifaceted approach to understanding the relationship between forests and society and the economy, and is engaged in "a dialogue of knowledge that bridges the field and society" […]

6.4Thu 2026

Civilization Ends when Forests are Lost? Revisiting the Cycle of Forests and People from the Remaining Beech Belt at the Edge of Eurasia Reading "Beech Belt Culture" by Takeshi Umehara et al (Part 2)

*Previous column is hereA Worldview of Cycles Linking the Jomon, Ainu, and Matagi: Reading "Beech Belt Culture" by Takeshi Umehara et al. (Part 1) Civilization [...].

5.13Wed 2026

Charcoal depicted in a 1943 toddler magazine Forest resources touted as an alternative to oil during wartime

Rikugien Garden, located near Komagome Station on the JR Yamanote Line in Tokyo, is a famous garden created by Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa. In the Meiji era (1868-1912), the garden was owned by Yataro Iwasaki, founder of Mitsubishi [...].

5.11Mon 2026

Reading "Beech Belt Culture" by Takeshi Umehara et al.

The potential natural vegetation in Japan is considered to be evergreen broad-leaved in southwestern Japan and deciduous broad-leaved in northeastern Japan. The former are also called terrestrial broadleaf forests, and are known as "terrestrial broadleaf forests" [...].

4.30Thu 2026

The role of the forest in mobilizing social relational capital.

*Previous column here [The Goddess's Eye View] The Economics of "Sansrei" Connecting Fragmented Forests and Cities - From Anonymous Supply Chains [...].

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 [...]...

4.24Fri 2026

Trees have been in contact with us through play and healing. Reassessing their benefits in our daily lives.

Until the Showa period, many of the tools necessary in daily life, such as chopsticks, chests of drawers, and tables, were made of wood, and since long ago, people have been exposed to wood and protected by it [...].

4.9Thu 2026

The Aesthetics of Wood and Musical Instruments that are Shaved and Polished - The Structure of Wood Value as Seen from the "35% Yield Rate

Round objects become square. Wood is formed from logs, which change shape into square columns and beam girders. As it is cut away from its original volume, the remaining [...].

4.3Fri 2026

Ghibli Forest Connects to Jomon and Asia: Reading "Terrestrial Forest Culture: The Depths of Japanese Culture" edited by Shumpei Kamiyama (Part 2)

*Previous column: "Civilization Theory of Forests" raised during the high-growth period Read "The Culture of Terrestrial Forests: The Depths of Japanese Culture" edited by Shumpei Ueyama ([...])

3.2Mon 2026

The "Civilization of Forests" Theory Proposed during the Period of Rapid Economic Growth: Reading "The Culture of Terrestrial Forests: The Depths of Japanese Culture" edited by Shumpei Ueyama (Part 1)

The potential natural vegetation of the Japanese archipelago is broad-leaved. The potential natural vegetation is divided into two major areas in Japan, with the mountains of the Chubu region and the Tohoku region being the summer [...].

2.25Wed 2026

The Historical Significance of Disposable Chopsticks Originating in Japan: The Edo Period Eating-Out Culture Supported by the Use of Sugi (Japanese Cedar)

Disposable chopsticks were born in Japan. Therefore, among countries where chopsticks are mainly used for eating, the use of disposable chopsticks is one of the features of Japanese [...].

2.18Wed 2026

The "Teshin" Theory of Restoring Return as a Manner of Forest Circulation

*Previous columns are here [From a Shinto priest's perspective] As a manner of forest circulation, we transcend the division of responsibility between the past and the future in the "middle and present" time frame.

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