Trees. An indispensable part of the Earth and its ecosystem. The lifeblood of forests,
their arms stretch up and pierce the firmament above our heads. Without these springs of life,
existence would be but a shadow of itself. Okay, enough with the profundities. Trees.
In Pokémon. Why do they all look the same? Since the start of the series up until, well, now
still, trees look pretty much the same all across whatever game you’re talking about. And yes,
if you think about this pragmatically it’s because using the same sprites over and over saves game
space and keeps the game in it’s set style. But let’s think of an alternate explanation… Because
actually, there is an interesting alternate explanation for all these trees being identical,
well, an explanation up until generation 5… And these? Sigh… I-I just don’t know… But anyways,
from generations one through four each Pokémon region was based on a different area of Japan.
And it’s Japan’s history that we need to look at more closely to find our answer.
During the Edo period of Japan, after Tokugawa Ieyasu unified the country in 1603, the country
remained very isolated and closed off from trade. This was solidified by several policies from 1633
to 1639, which can be neatly summed up with this scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory:
[Man] Nobody ever goes in...
And nobody ever comes out!
This period of history was known as 'Sakoku', meaning 'closed country'.
Anyways, during this period the Japanese had to be
self-sufficient and so devised a way to farm the land and remain in harmony with the forests at the
same time so as to preserve them: Satoyama (里山). This method of farming is one that is in harmony
with the world around it. And it remained this way for hundreds of years because the people
of Japan benefitted greatly from maintaining the large amounts of forest next to them. And because
of this, even today, forests cover two thirds of its total land area – something very strange for
a highly developed country. Just looking at my own country’s landscape we can see that there’s very
little forest left, as it was all cut down to make way for farmland. And well unfortunately Japan
ended up going a little like this way as well… Unfortunately, the satoyama life began to fade
away around 1853 when Japan was forced to open up to outside trade after the Americans
came knocking with Commodore Matthew Perry. This forcibly ended the period of isolation
that Japan had been under for centuries, and brought about a huge change in the country.
Japan began to adopt western technology and ideas, rapidly developing its economy and society. And as
Japan’s need for raw materials grew greater, so did its imperial ambitions. By the end of the
second world war, Japan’s forests were not in a good position. Much of it had been cut down for
manufacturing and to feed the war machine. Much of it that was left burnt during the
periods of intense firebombing before the end of World War II, and afterwards a lot of what
was left was cleared to make way for more farmland to feed Japan’s growing population,
and to be used as construction materials. It was at this point that the Japanese government
decided to step in and take action – realising the importance of taking care of the forest
and nature, as being in harmony with nature is one of the key ideas within Shintoism.
The government chose to plant en-masse, trees that would help re-grow the economy. The two
trees they selected were ‘Sugi’ (杉), The Japanese Cedar which happens to be Japan’s national tree,
and ‘Hinoki’ (ヒノキ), the Japanese Cypress. The cedar was chosen due to its quick growing time
and due to the fact that it grows pretty straight and upright, while the cypress
was chosen due to its use as a high-quality building material in temples and shrines.
Unfortunately, the way these trees had been planted was a little problematic
for the ecosystem… In 1850, 44% of the Japanese forest consisted of Broadleaf trees. By 1985,
that had dropped to 21% as they were replaced by coniferous trees – mainly
Cypress and Cedar. Presently most of the trees in Japan are not the original ones,
they have been planted there by humans at some point or another. These monocultures of Cedar
and Cypress have prevented light from reaching the forest floor as well as create crowded,
tangled sections of forest that are impossible to get through and prevent animals from crossing
through it. Deer in Japan thrive in these dense woodlands – their predators? Not so much…
So, how does this link in to Pokémon? Well looking at the types of forests we come across in
the games it’s clear that they take after their source country! Areas are surrounded by thick,
impenetrable barriers of trees which are all of the same kind, and pretty much all of them
are coniferous in appearance, like the Cedar and Cypress trees. From Kanto to Sinnoh. And speaking
of Sinnoh, Platinum’s version of Eterna Forest is a typical example of a thick monoculture Japanese
forest with low amounts of light reaching the forest floor. And all these forests from Veridian
to Eterna Even cases can be made for Unova and Galar, whose real-life counterparts the USA and
the UK have both had similar issues with forestry. In the UK for example, where I’m from in Scotland,
most of the native forest has been replaced with conifers which are usually cut down all at once,
hill by hill by the logging industry. Today though steps are being taken to
selectively cut down trees in Japan to strengthen the forest and its ecosystem and
prevent overcrowding and promote bio-diversity. And while Pokémon has excelled in managing to
portray the nature of Japanese forests within its games, it’s important to remember how important
it is to maintain a healthy ecosystem which is sustainable for both human and non-human alike.
This is why I decided to make this video in support of TeamTrees, an initiative set up
and supported by various YouTubers with the goal of planting 20 million trees before the start of
the new year. And I am pleased to say that that goal has already been reached! However, having
done my part and seeing as it’s still the new year, I thought I would once more bring it to
your attention as there is still time to donate! And I’m sure no matter where your opinion lies in
regards to topics such as climate change we can all agree that we can never have too many trees,
and a healthy happy biosphere makes for healthy, happy humans! There’s a link in the description
for you to follow if you want to donate, and there’s also some links to further reading
and watching if you want to learn more about the forestry situation in Japan. Anyways, I'm sorry
that I uploaded this video late, it was supposed to be uploaded last year. But, I'm going to do my
best to upload as much high quality content as I can this year, so see you in the next video!
[English subtitles by Kaihatsu]