An Orchestra in Cyberspace, Powered by Forests

including uninhabited islands and areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, to observe and record the uninhabited natural environment. Recorded data is archived on the Internet and made available to the public; everyone is free to experience the wilderness in a virtual space.

The Cyberforest project uses robotic cameras installed in forests to capture audio and images, then distribute and store this information. 
The project is run by the Cyberforest Research Team at the University of Tokyo, and currently has live monitoring systems installed at eight locations around Japan, 

“I'm sure there are many who have had the experience of being asked about Japan by people from overseas and realizing, despite being Japanese, just how little they know about their own country. 

When you go abroad, you find that it is difficult to communicate with people without knowing things about where you are from. 

 In the same way, I thought, if the world is going to be connected through the Internet, we need to somehow “record” Japan. Based on this impulse, I began recording the sounds and scenes of natural forests in Japan, and posting these on the Internet.”

Saito leads the way into the University of Tokyo Chichibu Forest in the Okuchichibu Mountains, north-west of Tokyo. 
 This is one of the few remaining pristine forests in the Kanto region and one where a variety of educational and research activities are conducted.

It is also where the second Cyberforest live monitoring system was installed, which has been observing the natural environment here for 25 years.

The cameras and microphones, which were initially operated manually, now operate automatically using solar power, and the recording medium has evolved from videotape to live data transmission via a satellite internet connection. 

During the same period, Fujiwara became an assistant professor at the training forest and was responsible for the maintenance of the robotic camera, completing his PhD on the subject of “cyberforests.” 


The number of people becoming interested in the project and participating in it has also been gradually increasing. 

“It's hard to go out into the forest just to listen for the sound of a deer's steps, but with Cyberforest, you can hear them anytime you go online. 
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to experience the forest sounds and feel the presence of various creatures as you crawl under the covers and fall asleep at night? 

In the forest, you can hear all sorts of sounds, like the drumming of woodpeckers, the barking of flying squirrels, and the nighttime cry of a scaly thrush. It's nice to listen to the sounds of the forest as a shared experience; 


you can tell others, "I heard an owl hooting in the forest last night!””

By accessing the Cyberforest site, you can listen to the sounds of the forest at any given moment, whether you are in a city office or in a hospital room; 


you could even perhaps “go on a Cyberforest date” to the Chichibu Forest with your loved one who lives far away.

 “In the forest, you can't predict what's going to happen because there are so many different sounds coming from all angles. 
The unpredictability of what noise comes from where and when can be scary if you are in a real forest, but soothing if you listen to it in your room.

Whether you enjoy classical or rock music has a lot to do with your cultural background and tastes.
However, the sound of rain and wind touching trees and soil is heard all over the world—it’s a shared human experience. The sounds of nature can transcend generations and circumstances, and we can all share in its goodness.” 

The sounds of nature provide people with more than just a sense of healing. Saito says that sound has a different effect on us to images, bringing a sense of reality to distant places.

“Nowadays, we can see nebulae hundreds of millions of light years away in photographs. Yet, the photos don't really give you a sense of reality. In the same way, if you see a forest in the distance, it is difficult to have a sense of reality about the place.
But, what if you could hear the sounds of that forest at the same time? Wouldn't you suddenly feel as if that distant forest was now right in front of you?” 

“The important thing is to become aware of these issues through your own experience, rather than being told about them by someone else. 

You can collect all the data and evidence, or have someone tell you, “Look, here’s the problem,” but this is not always the best way to fully comprehend an issue. To move beyond this, it is important to engage the senses.Sound is something that doesn't require explanation. 

 I think that if more people could start thinking of problems in distant lands in terms of, “My neighbor’s in trouble”, we’d be kinder to each other and there’d be more people taking the initiative to help others out.”

If sounds from all over the world are eventually archived for 100 or 200 years, we will be able to “travel” to any place in any time period we want. 
In practice, however, the hurdles to this are high. Although there are several projects overseas that monitor the sounds of the natural environment in collaboration with Saito and his team, there are almost no efforts to archive the sound data. 

Nevertheless, Saito and his team are pursuing their endless experiments, contending with a never-ending increase in recorded data. A question was posed to Saito: What will be the meaning of cyberforests to future society?

“There is ongoing research on the psychological effects of sounds in the natural environment using cyberforests, as well as collaboration with ecological studies on birds. But, it is difficult to give a clear answer to the question, 
 "How can cyberforests help society?” The project started from a different perspective than one measured thinking of the short-term, and I don't know what it will come to mean in the future. 

 It' s precisely because I don't know that I feel it has potential, and that's probably why I've been doing this for over 25 years now.”

In a society where profits and results are so important, it has become difficult to place value on the unknowable. 
However, even if the Cyberforest Project does not fully benefit us right now, it can reveal a glimpse of a world that humanity has not been able to enter. 

Would it be an exaggeration to say that such an experience touches upon the very essence of learning? 


So, now you know about them, tune in to a cyberforest, taking a moment to contemplate the charm of nature, listening to the sounds of the uninhabited wilderness…