hello world when I first started making
this video the working title was how
Japan got its forests back because when
you think about Japan what do you think
of probably the mega city that is Tokyo
lots of buildings and concrete very few
trees however Japan ranks third among
the world's advanced regions after
Finland and Sweden in the expanse of its
forest land as a percentage of national
territory for a highly industrialized
country with a large population to have
more than two-thirds of its territory
covered by forests is absolutely
incredible it is an incredible story and
it's why I started making this video but
the more I dug into it the less
clear-cut it became pun intended to
start telling this story I want to take
you back about 400 years or so this is
the time of samurai and daimyo a not so
peaceful time
[Music]
okay so that was a little too far back I
actually wanted to get to the part where
Tokugawa unified Japan in 1603 and the
Edo period commenced during this period
of peace Japan was essentially closed
off to foreign trade requiring them to
be self-sufficient if they lost the
forests they had nowhere else to turn
what helped preserve Japan's diversity
of trees was a unique Japanese landscape
called satoyama my boy sir David even
collabed with Japan's national
broadcaster nhk to make a documentary
about it rice has been a part of Japan
for so long that it has shaped the land
yes we could all sit here for hours
listening to that incredible voice but
here's the part that sticks out this is
a land that has been touched by people
yet the people tread lightly upon it
they're fake they're natural but they're
not these are artificially created
environments although as the UK's
national treasure tells it it works
Santa llaman is an environment created
by human beings certainly but it's also
one that is in harmony with the natural
world that surrounds it the people
purposely kept up the biodiversity
because they benefited from it and for
hundreds of years
Japan's forests covered two-thirds of
its land this is pretty amazing
considering that in the development of
other countries during the same time
periods they lost a lot of their forest
coverage but then in 1853 USS Commodore
Matthew Perry came a-knockin and Japan
was forced literally at gunpoint to open
up the country this is when Japan
started thinking its dominate or be
dominated Japan integrated foreign
technology industrialized god--all
imperialistic and it all worked for a
while until it didn't
[Music]
at this point in time the forests
weren't doing so well anymore they were
cut to help fuel the war they were
bombed and destroyed when the war came
to the homefront and then during the
rebuilding they were clear cut to create
farmland to feed the people and for
building materials to house them however
the government still realized that
forests were unimportant natural
resource and went on a planting spree
trees that would help the economy
recover were chosen sugi Japan's
national tree
the Japanese cedar was selected because
it grew fast and grew straight he no key
the Japanese cypress a high quality wood
used for temples and shrines was also
picked that two-thirds forest coverage
was retained and despite some dips along
the way Japan has been able to keep it
that way until this very day a beautiful
success story and this is where I
thought the video would end but then I
did some research some more research and
then some more research and now my
working title is why Japan isn't
chopping down enough of its trees how
did I come to this way of thinking well
I can tell you it isn't mine it's an
idea shared by both environmentalists as
well as the Japanese Ministry of
Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries so to
tell this story I have to yet again go
back many decades but not too far back
let's just go to the 1950s you see by
that time the satella life was fading
away broadleaf trees which were once
needed for heating cooking and
fertilization were replaced by oil coal
and synthetic fertilizers while the
country's woodland area was covered in
44% broadleaf trees in 1850 by 1985 it
was only 21 percent and what replaced
them it was conifer trees mostly
Japanese cedar and Japanese Cypress
because they were deemed the most
commercially viable Japan was so gung-ho
on planting those trees that 40% of the
land became plantation while only 60%
remained natural forests and I say
natural in quotation marks because even
that natural forest number is misleading
Japan is covered with 67%
with trees
however only two percent of that is the
original old native forests most of the
forest in Japan has been changed by man
at the start of the 1950s Japan was
still largely self-sufficient for its
lumber but by 2002 it hit its lowest
point importing 80 percent of all its
wood from overseas so what well for
starters a lot of those early foreign
imports came from Southeast Asian
countries like Indonesia where they
didn't have the same kind of sustainable
forest practices that Japan had so while
Japan kept its forests other countries
didn't but in fact Japan's forestry
practices weren't sustainable as well
this is why I then wanted to call the
video why Japan didn't see the forest
for the trees
Japan was so focused first on planting
specific trees then on getting cheap
imports that it didn't see the bigger
picture of what it was doing not only to
foreign forests but to its forests as
well so on its plantations they
essentially created monocultures a
single species of tree grow after rope
just like modern-day agriculture where
it's rice row after row or corn row
after row to work properly they need to
be tended to
they need to be weeded and in the case
of trees thinned because Japanese tree
farmers could no longer compete with
foreign markets they couldn't make a
living and many of these plantation
forests became untended this had severe
environmental economic and health
consequences from overhead conifers cone
bearing trees looked dark green and
beautiful but if not properly managed
sunlight cannot reach the ground and
they can be virtual dead zones for
biodiversity for example while Japanese
deer are badass
they're also badass in that they're
destroying the forests since they can
thrive in the plantation forests while
their natural predators cannot because
of this every year 300,000 deer are
killed but these untended monoculture
forests also have a negative effect on
the people as well because farmers could
no longer make a living tending to the
forests and move to the city whereas
there used to be half a million forestry
workers in the 50s there are now only
about 50,000 but even the city people
didn't go away unscathed all that pollen
from the
trees called Kakuma gnocchi our national
sickness technically it's Pauline OSIS
our allergy to pollen those beloved
cypress and cedar trees release a lot of
pollen especially when they're mature
and untended
combine that with the increase in car
emissions that can break down the pollen
and the increase in the size of cities
that can let it float around instead of
being absorbed into the earth and you
got a pollen storm brewing half of
Tokyo's residents suffer from the
effects of cedar tree pollen that's part
of the reason why masks are so popular
in Japan so it's because of all these
problems associated with not tending to
these non natural forests both
environmentalists and the Japanese
government agree that some of its trees
should be cut down now
that was how our Woodlands looked when
we started off tangled and strangled
with vines trees sick no light reaching
the ground but that's what happens when
you let in the light 10% of light should
reach the forest floor and this is true
for forests all over the world 10% and
what happens to be clear this is not
clear cutting trees but rather thinning
thinning is selectively harvesting trees
ensuring that the forest grows stronger
like I said I didn't start making this
video intending to say this but chopping
down trees can have positive effects for
the environment the economy the people
and yes even climate change how can this
be well thinning an artificial forest
can help it recover its biodiversity but
doesn't cutting down trees lower its
ability to capture co2 which would
increase the pace of climate change well
this is probably the most controversial
point what creates a better carbon sink
thinning a forests are leaving it alone
well the theory is that thinning a force
allows two remaining trees to grow
better and be able to better absorb more
co2 however global studies I read showed
that while in the long run managed
forests will outperform non managed
forests the return on investment takes a
really long time like 120 years long
which we don't have although a
Japan's force in regards to its
plantations concludes that their carbon
capture would increase in the near term
if thinned intensively all in all it
seems that Japan's artificial forests
would benefit from being managed better
ie having some of its trees cut down
this would bring back more diversity
improve the environment and even create
jobs that can help revitalize rural
economies but we didn't only cut trees
we also planted you see that black patch
shut the back there that's the National
Forest and the really beautiful forest
is ours you don't get allergies when you
come to our place trees are a great
thing and that's why I am a part of team
trees it's an initiative to plant 20
million trees around the globe by 2020
by raising twenty million dollars team
trees is working with the Arbor Day
Foundation to plant the right trees in
the right place for the right reasons
and after all the research I did for
this video that sounds like a great plan
to me for every dollar donated one tree
will be planted go to team trees org to
help plant those trees thanks for
watching see you next time bye what our
force like where you're from