From disuse to wealth: for love of Japanese domestic wood

From the perspective of carbon neutral, the use of wood material has gained increasing attention in society. On the other hand, the broader area of unmanaged forest (which we saw in Part 1) is one of the significant issues in Japan regarding sustainable development. If forests are left unmanaged or abandoned, the multiple ecosystem benefits from them, such as disaster prevention, material production and environmental protection can also be lost.

To solve this issue, the adequate use of natural resources from forests in Japan has come into the spotlight. Let’s look closer at the sustainable use of domestic natural resources in Japan.

Takenaka Group, a major construction company in Japan, has been focusing on wooden architecture using domestic materials and its environmental benefits. So far, their practices have been implemented in a number of larger projects, such as urban and public architectures, including schools, hospitals, apartment buildings (even high-rise buildings!). To realize these practices, the company has developed innovative technology, such as fire and earthquake resistance, which have been the shortcomings of wood material compared with iron and concrete.

In addition, their visions and actions have been extended to the scope of community and societal system creation. They have created the concept of “Forest Grand Cycle,” where they are aiming for the sustainable forest-material use and its result of economic development in the local community in a circular way, together with the local forestry businesses and municipal governments.

Similar practices are seen in another construction company, Mitubishi Estate Group. This company also considers the use of domestic wood material as the solution to environmental issues and the development of the local economy, which is also reflected in their subsidiary specialized in home building. In addition, together with above-mentioned Takenaka Group and five other construction companies, they have established an innovative company called MEC Industry in the construction industry. Through the business, they can complete all the processes in construction, from wood harvesting to processing and assembling, which has resulted in offering good quality products with lower prices.

Oak Village celebrated their 50th anniversary, having been established in 1974 with a doubt over growing production and consumption in society. They have focused on the authentic wood culture of Japan and offered a uniquely wide variety of products from small wood toys and furniture to housings, which are made of broad-leafed domestic trees. Their attitude of aiming for a sustainable, circulatory society is clear, as they have articulated a number of tangible practices, including the calculation of the annual amount of their CO₂ emissions and the identification of the ways to decrease it, such as the use of renewable energy sources.

The collaborative practice, like the case of MEC industry, is also found in furniture production. The launch of outdoor furniture brand, +biotope, was announced in early 2023, in collaboration between a building materials manufacturer and an outdoor furniture manufacturer. By introducing “Thermowood technology,” they have realized the durability required for outdoor furniture without the use of any chemical substances. Their use of domestic (hinoki) cypress wood, as well as the visualization of the observed amount of CO₂ for each product, are expected to contribute to sustainable use of forest resources.

Together with the innovative practices introduced in the previous article, the forestry industry and forest-related businesses from furniture production to construction seem to be changing toward sustainability, as the use of domestic wood materials is increasing significantly after 2010s (Forestry Agency). Considering the longer period of the undeveloped industry, there would be a lot of issues in sustainable domestic wood use, such as the lack of human resource and forest management systems based on commercial resource use. However, the introduced innovative solutions can have a potential to be spread throughout Japan for sustainable development.