Article: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/02/15/environment/culture-and-nature-vie-over-ancient-hinoki/#.VAxAxWSSy1J

As the title suggests, my article focuses on the debate over the relationship between culture and nature and how to achieve a balance between the two. Japan’s hinoki forests are depleting at a rapid rate as timber is in demand for the maintenance and construction of traditional temples and shrines. The Forestry Agency has decided to integrate restoration plans to their already existing conservation policies to harmonize the forest into its more natural state. This is indeed an improvement from plantation forests that reflects only a superficial attempt at forestry protection.

This dispute between environmental, cultural and economic concerns requires a compromise that cannot be easily obtained. In relation to what Kirby have said, the Japanese love of nature is a superficial ideal that ignores any ecological behaviors that causes environmental degradation. (72) Indeed, after reading this article, it is hard to picture Japan as a “green” nation when its natural hinoki forests are on the verge of depletion. Besides that, the article also examines who controls and determines the access to these resources. How does the Forestry Agency decide how much trees should be logged and auctioned off to timber companies without excessively harming the environment?

Furthermore, this also begs the question of whether culture is more important than nature. At first glance, nature and culture cannot seem to coexist, given that culture is an anthropological concept. However, as stated by Kalland and Asquith, nature is an integral part of Shinto, where the kami is believed to reside in nature entities and also in Buddhism, where humans should strive to live in harmony with nature. (2) Thus, it is ironic that the Japanese seeks to destroy nature by using the hinoki trees to reconstruct their shrines and temples when their cultures demand them to treasure it. Perhaps what Japan desires is not so much a preservation of culture as to gain economic benefits from the promotion of their cultures.

Nature as a commodity has been a perpetual problem in Japan and it is interesting to see whether nature can subsist with the increased emphasis on culture. This artice shows that there is substantial effort by the government to present a “green” Japan through the conservation and restoration of depleted natural resources, though the success of these strategies have yet to be determined.

References:

Asquith, Pamela, and Arne Kalland. Japanese Images of Nature: Cultural Perspectives. Surrey: Curzon Press, 1997. Print.

Kirby, Peter Wynn. Troubled Natures: Waste, Environment, Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2011. Print.