Where have all the trees gone?
This article appeared in THE JAPAN TIMES newspaper, Sept 2017
One surprising thing about Japan, given the image that the Japanese have a deep love and respect for nature, is that there appears to be little thought given to some basic environmental aspects. The example I want to focus on here: in the construction of new houses they knock down all the trees!
There is a very bad habit of cutting down all the trees in a house garden when an old house is demolished. Of leaving the ground, the garden of the house 90%-100% cleared and empty, ready for a new house to be built there. This seems to happen as a matter of course, in almost all cases, even if the trees in the garden are very old. The usual practice is to build a new house/mansion with only 1 or 2 trees. Much of the time with none at all. This habit seems to fly in the face of environmental sense, and to display a total lack of concern for maintaining the physical culture and beauty of Japan.
I've researched the area and conferred with figures well known for their environmental concerns, such as the writer Alex Kerr, Professor Stephen Hesse and Junko Edahiro, chief executive of Japan for Sustainability. The conclusion appears to be that although there is plenty of data on the cutting down of trees in industrial and governmental spheres, there is no data for trees cut down in private gardens. It appears not to be collected at all. That lack of data is something worth noting in itself. Sometimes a lack of focus speaks volumes about what is hidden or unconsidered.
As to laws, various regulations exist, such as the ‘Law on Tree Preservation for Maintaining Scenic Beauty of Cities’ (1962), which allows local governments to designate valuable trees for conservation. Or the ‘Urban Green Space Law’ (1973) to encourage ‘green space conservation districts’. However, these regulations seem only to be loosely or not at all applied regarding how construction companies should deal with trees in a private garden.
Given the lack of data on this subject I decided to do a bit of primary research myself, here in Kumamoto. By making notes and taking photographs of the amount of trees and bushes in old houses due for demolition over the last 3 years I have been compiling a rough ’before and after’ comparison study. Here are some of the findings for the area around Kumamoto University:
House 1 behind sports ground, replaced by two small new mansions
Trees in previous garden = about 20
Trees in new area = 0
House 2 directly opposite Faculty of Letter, replaced by large mansion
Trees in previous garden = about 5
Trees in new apartment block = 0
House 3 behind high school, replaced by small mansion
Trees in previous garden = 5
Trees in new apartment block = 0
House 4 behind sports ground, replaced by medium sized mansion
Trees in previous garden = about 10
Trees in new apartment block = 0
House 5 opposite Faculty of Education, replaced by large mansion
Trees in previous garden = about 10
Trees in new apartment block = 1
Total trees in the five gardens 3 years ago = about 50
Total trees in the five new buildings now = 1
This article appeared in THE JAPAN TIMES newspaper, Sept 2017
One surprising thing about Japan, given the image that the Japanese have a deep love and respect for nature, is that there appears to be little thought given to some basic environmental aspects. The example I want to focus on here: in the construction of new houses they knock down all the trees!
There is a very bad habit of cutting down all the trees in a house garden when an old house is demolished. Of leaving the ground, the garden of the house 90%-100% cleared and empty, ready for a new house to be built there. This seems to happen as a matter of course, in almost all cases, even if the trees in the garden are very old. The usual practice is to build a new house/mansion with only 1 or 2 trees. Much of the time with none at all. This habit seems to fly in the face of environmental sense, and to display a total lack of concern for maintaining the physical culture and beauty of Japan.
I've researched the area and conferred with figures well known for their environmental concerns, such as the writer Alex Kerr, Professor Stephen Hesse and Junko Edahiro, chief executive of Japan for Sustainability. The conclusion appears to be that although there is plenty of data on the cutting down of trees in industrial and governmental spheres, there is no data for trees cut down in private gardens. It appears not to be collected at all. That lack of data is something worth noting in itself. Sometimes a lack of focus speaks volumes about what is hidden or unconsidered.
As to laws, various regulations exist, such as the ‘Law on Tree Preservation for Maintaining Scenic Beauty of Cities’ (1962), which allows local governments to designate valuable trees for conservation. Or the ‘Urban Green Space Law’ (1973) to encourage ‘green space conservation districts’. However, these regulations seem only to be loosely or not at all applied regarding how construction companies should deal with trees in a private garden.
Given the lack of data on this subject I decided to do a bit of primary research myself, here in Kumamoto. By making notes and taking photographs of the amount of trees and bushes in old houses due for demolition over the last 3 years I have been compiling a rough ’before and after’ comparison study. Here are some of the findings for the area around Kumamoto University:
House 1 behind sports ground, replaced by two small new mansions
Trees in previous garden = about 20
Trees in new area = 0
House 2 directly opposite Faculty of Letter, replaced by large mansion
Trees in previous garden = about 5
Trees in new apartment block = 0
House 3 behind high school, replaced by small mansion
Trees in previous garden = 5
Trees in new apartment block = 0
House 4 behind sports ground, replaced by medium sized mansion
Trees in previous garden = about 10
Trees in new apartment block = 0
House 5 opposite Faculty of Education, replaced by large mansion
Trees in previous garden = about 10
Trees in new apartment block = 1
Total trees in the five gardens 3 years ago = about 50
Total trees in the five new buildings now = 1
From 50 trees to just 1 tree, in only 3 years, all within 5 minutes walk. Only one left out of all those beautiful old trees that made the area look so nice, provided homes for animals, shade in the sun, and added to the health of the environment. Not a disaster if it were just that one area, perhaps - but my research indicates that the same kind of thing is going on in general. If this is occurring across Japan and it means 100,000’s of trees lost every year.
Why, we may wonder, do Japanese people allow this destruction? I have spoken to various people I know and it seems that it is quite common to see trees as troublesome - they drop slippery leaves, extend over into other gardens in a way that causes trouble, and perhaps most of all, attract insects. All of these are clearly true. But a further question, then, is when and why did these points become more important than the beauty of trees, than the admiration of nature, than a concern for the environment? It appears to be a recent trend. While the Japanese have had a ‘struggle with nature’ habit of thinking for hundreds of years, there has also been a general tendency to have a lot of trees in gardens. If we look around us at houses built before the 1950s we see that there are normally many trees and bushes, and often a pond design. Even those built in the 60s and 70s have several trees, though ponds are rare. Houses built over the last 20 years rarely have more than 1 or 2 trees and never have ponds. There has been a marked changed in garden style.
However, for the sake of Japan's history, beauty and natural environment surely a policy should be instigated that construction companies should keep or replant a certain percentage of the trees in any house demolition, with a minimum of 25% as the basic rule. Of course some people with a neoliberal slant may not see this as a good thing. ‘Why should the government have a say in what I do with my own garden?’ Or, more often, with my granny’s old garden. That is an ideological point to be debated. But government rules are not the only thing under consideration here. We also need to consider the physical history of Japan, natural beauty, the environment and our health. Surely even the most rampant capitalist thinks those things are of some importance?
And more added here now that was not included in the article:
That might be acceptable if the policy was to take the trees out and then plant them again afterwards, or to plant news ones after the new house is built. But, no, they simply kill all the existing trees.. and then don't bother planting any new ones. I began to notice that this was the habit, and it shocked me. The image of Japan is that they care about gardens, about the physical beauty of nature, their heritage, etc. But what I see is the actual practice does not fit with that image at all.
Why, we may wonder, do Japanese people allow this destruction? I have spoken to various people I know and it seems that it is quite common to see trees as troublesome - they drop slippery leaves, extend over into other gardens in a way that causes trouble, and perhaps most of all, attract insects. All of these are clearly true. But a further question, then, is when and why did these points become more important than the beauty of trees, than the admiration of nature, than a concern for the environment? It appears to be a recent trend. While the Japanese have had a ‘struggle with nature’ habit of thinking for hundreds of years, there has also been a general tendency to have a lot of trees in gardens. If we look around us at houses built before the 1950s we see that there are normally many trees and bushes, and often a pond design. Even those built in the 60s and 70s have several trees, though ponds are rare. Houses built over the last 20 years rarely have more than 1 or 2 trees and never have ponds. There has been a marked changed in garden style.
However, for the sake of Japan's history, beauty and natural environment surely a policy should be instigated that construction companies should keep or replant a certain percentage of the trees in any house demolition, with a minimum of 25% as the basic rule. Of course some people with a neoliberal slant may not see this as a good thing. ‘Why should the government have a say in what I do with my own garden?’ Or, more often, with my granny’s old garden. That is an ideological point to be debated. But government rules are not the only thing under consideration here. We also need to consider the physical history of Japan, natural beauty, the environment and our health. Surely even the most rampant capitalist thinks those things are of some importance?
And more added here now that was not included in the article:
That might be acceptable if the policy was to take the trees out and then plant them again afterwards, or to plant news ones after the new house is built. But, no, they simply kill all the existing trees.. and then don't bother planting any new ones. I began to notice that this was the habit, and it shocked me. The image of Japan is that they care about gardens, about the physical beauty of nature, their heritage, etc. But what I see is the actual practice does not fit with that image at all.
The 20 or so trees in this house's garden near the university were all cut down... why? Was that necessary? The new house is still being built there... let's see if the plant any new trees...
Update: nope, not a one! This is a photo of what the above area looks like now( from a different position) with a new house built there, and not a single tree replanted. In place of those 20 or so trees they have simply out down standard, dull gravel stones. In this case over about half the total area is covered with just gravel. What a waste of space and a terrible destruction of trees, bushes, and flowers.
Even a row of beautiful tress like these (where a pin martin used to live) is cut down without a second thought:
Even a row of beautiful tress like these (where a pin martin used to live) is cut down without a second thought:
Possible answers to come as to why Japanese do this...