It’s a stark contrast to Japan’s natural forests, which teem with biodiversity and sound. With their diverse tree species like red pine, larch and maple, these forests support more of all kinds of wildlife. Japan’s unique geography has made it one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, but habitat loss and invasive species have led much of its unique wildlife to become increasingly at risk.
With the monoculture plantation forests causing so many problems, it makes sense that Japan is now trying to replace them with something better. But it’s a daunting challenge. The reason? Japan has a lot of forests. In fact it’s one of the most forested industrialized nations in the world, with forests covering 68% of its land, a third of which are sugi and hinoki plantations. The US, by contrast, is 34% forested; the UK just 13%.
Across Japan, forests can be found right by cities. Japanese even has a word for the transition area between city and forest: satoyama.
Japanese people spend huge amounts on anti-allergy products, and the country is developing new medicines from long-lasting treatments to anti-allergy rice
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