The Ecosystem Comes First in The Future of Forestry

A challenge for the 9th of the dynasty

Toru Hayami is the representative of Hayami Forestry, and the name that many in the industry would put forward if asked who was the driving force of current forestry trends. The company itself is located in Kihoku-cho, Mie Prefecture, adjacent to the Kumano Nada sea. As a concern, it dates back to 1790, and Hayami is the 9th generation of the family business.

Despite this most traditional of heritages, he is nowadays known as a pioneer in the industry; amongst other things, he has advanced forest management by introducing large imported machinery and wide forest roads, by developing new seedlings, and by having acquitted Japan’s first FSC – Forest Stewardship Council – certification for sustainability. Following in the footprints of his father, Tsutomu Hayami, himself a respected forestry expert, for 35 years he has been a force for change not only within his own forest, but across the entire industry in Japan.

Edo’s favourite Owase Forestry

Hayami’s mountains – on which his forestry is located – are in the centre of the Owase forest, famous for its high-quality lumber since the Edo period. The trees grow slowly, due to the inherently unfertile soil, but with time and with human help, the rings in their trunks that represent the passing of years grow numerous and dense. The Owase cypress is particularly famous because of its glossy texture due to high oil content. The convenience of being able to use water to transport the felled trees, and the supportive policies of the Kishu local government, have made this one of Japan’s main forestry areas.

Only beautiful mountains may be able to produce beautiful logs, and the Hayami Forestry certainly does not offer a counter-example to this. In Hayami’s forest, the sun shines gently in between the well-spaced trees, the ground is covered with soft ferns, and the soft, yielding soil makes for comfortable walking. This is a man-made forest, but it never feels artificial.

With this nourishing landscape fresh in my mind, I visited Hayami and see what he could teach us about the forests.

The future is shaped by decisions made now

After being introduced to one another, Hayami remarked that he had recently cut down a tree that was 233 years old. "You must be moved to have trees that were planted in the same era that your family business started", I offered, but sentimentalism is not what the forester need– "If I thought about the past in that way, I’d never be able to cut down a single tree". He continues, "Forestry workers always enjoy these tales of the old times, but it's important not to be emotional when you’re faced with a tree you have to fell. You can’t think about that particular tree; you have to think about the whole picture - the mountains themselves, and of course the market." Despite having been born into one of Japan's longest-established forestry companies, his response was very down to earth. Yet this clear-minded attitude is the reason that he is considered the driving force behind the revitalization of the Japanese forestry industry.

Bringing a modern angle to the industry

Balancing these concerns for the environment and for efficiency is Hayami’s forte. After graduating from university in 1976, the young Hayami returned to his fathers' mountains, and immediately embarked on a thorough quantification of the family forest. "I just wanted to understand the actual situation," says Hayami, his usually jovial face suddenly becoming quite serious. "I calculated everything I could find - the height and thickness of the trees, the number of trees grouped by age, etc. I put all the data into a system that I programmed. I would not have known where to apply my efficiency-improving efforts unless I objectively looked at the mountains, as numbers alone. We cannot move forward if we rely solely on human experience. "

Infrastructure as a critical ingredient

Hayami also promoted forest road maintenance and mechanization. A wide forest road is indispensable, both to carry out the felled trees without damaging them, and to allow for working sites in amongst the mountains. The total space given over to roads and clearances in Hayami Forestry is about three times higher than the national average. The creation of these forest roads – a project he has been working on since his father's generation, allowed for the introduction of larger machines from Europe’s prime forestry areas, such as Germany and Scandinavia.

As well as importing machines from abroad, Hayami localizes and tweaks them. Some of his machines have been running for more than 30 years, and - with his policy of perfectly maintaining them - some of them are now the last working vehicles of that model in the world. “It’s natural that the European machines don’t fit into our mountains perfectly, because the environments are different. That’s why we tweak them ourselves. Sometimes the maintenance process will involve having to make the necessary parts”.

Share, don’t hide

Hayami has also been engaged for many years in research on seedlings, with the aim of reducing the cost of expanding the forests. These improved saplings not only boost production, but have led to stronger forests, that have battered Japan with greater force in recent years as the world’s climate has changed. Surprisingly, he never hesitates to share these seedlings – the fruits of his own long research – with whoever asks for them. “It may not actually be possible to use them, since the conditions between different mountains are different”, Hayami says with a modest laugh.

As a result of pioneering these techniques, Hayami has been made a member of a number of government agencies, both in the local Mie prefecture government and as part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fish and Forestries. He frequently speaks out about sustainable forestry management.

Balancing nature and efficiency

There are many in Japan who would baulk at the inclusion of the words ‘mountain’ and ‘efficiency’ in the same sentence. Whilst forestry is an industry like any other and relies on profits for its survival, to many the mountains are considered to be a place of divinity – a place of worship, where the gods dwell – as part of religious beliefs dating back to ancient times. As with any other culture, many resent the mixing of God and Mammon. This is part of the reason that Hayami’s efforts in this area – making people aware that the mountains can become a site for productivity and employment - has attracted widespread attention and discussion in Japan.

A sense of comfort speaks for the mountains

As Hayami guided me through the mountains in the clear Autumn weather, I asked him what a good mountain means to him. His answer was simple – “one with a sense of comfort”. He expanded “don’t you feel good whilst walking in the mountains here? Mountains with a good ecosystem and a real circle of life look beautiful and feel comfortable, even to children. Some people say that the forest is dark and scary, but the forest is actually very soothing if the trees are properly cut, and sunlight can find its way to the forest floor. The problem we have in Japan is not that there are not enough trees. The problem is that we have mountains that have been left unattended, where growth has not been well balanced by the felling of trees”.

“Smaller plants at the ground level are very important. If the trees are thinned out properly, and light can get to the ground, then grasses will serve as a kind of cushion for the rain, and an appropriate amount of water will drain into the soil. The soil doesn’t get pounded, and it doesn’t get so heavy that it slips or collapses. The reason that our rivers here don’t get muddy at all, even after a typhoon, is that the plants at the ground level act as a filter. If humans do their part, then nature will take care of itself".

Hayami created a picture – a collage of images from the internet – that demonstrates the forest ecosystem. It hangs outside his office, and half of the picture is above ground, half underground. The trees emerging straight and strong from the ground are supported by a profusion of intertwined roots.

“The forestry industry needs to treat the forest as a collection of living things. It’s crucial to conceptualize what goes on in an ecosystem that includes not just trees and plants, but also animals. Once we have understood this idea, we can then ask ourselves how we can increase productivity. I think this way of looking at things is the future of forestry".I was able to guess that– in this unique industry, where results are 50 to 100 years in the making – he has been through tough times, and had some friction with the agencies that oversee the industry according to his tones of speaking. Hayami laughs and simply replies “Well, I like forestry, after all”.

Hayami is chasing two goals at once: to have a forest that is productive now, and to have a forest that is productive 400 years in the future. “My hope is that some of these ancient-trees-to-be will be used in the repair work of Horyuji Temple [the oldest wooden building in the world; built in 607], long long after I’m gone”, he says. “Part of what it means to take care of the mountains now, is to think ahead about what the wood will be used for when it is harvested; what kind of object it will end up as”. This is the potential that Hayami sees; a growing closer of the users of wood, and those who produce it.

Kinpei Yokohama, an innovator and inventor, has created a product which is made of wood, but has taken the material far beyond its usual use as a building material. As Hayami introduces him, he remarks “I’m very grateful for Kinpei san’s opinions, since he is coming from the position of a wood consumer as well as creator”. Yokohama has obtained many patents for unique products that involve wood as integral and irreplaceable part of the product. He is based on Mie prefecture known as a place with a well-established reputation for education and research.

In 2020 Yokohama debuted his eponymous ‘Kinpei’ sound system. The sound system –internationally patented – was inspired by the sound that emerges from a well-aged grand piano. It plays sound by vibrating not a speaker cone, but a complete (and beautiful) slice of wood. “With a mixture of pinpoint-based speakers and a large diaphragm, I managed to create a sound system that covers almost every possible range of sound”, explains Yokohama. “The entire body of the wood resonates; it creates a sound that is so comfortable for the human body that you would not get tired of the sound. It is crystal clear, but still retains an element of natural-ness that is simply not found in conventional speaker systems”.

As the need for wood as a building material declines, forestry workers are collaborating with innovators, designers and other creators to find a new source of demand for trees and forests. An exciting world of possibilities for forests lies ahead.