Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
Emoni, I agree with you that the Japanese have "worshiped" nature for ages with Shinto, and that Hanami dates back to the Heian period. However, it was mostly the elite who went on such pleasance trips to watch the cherry blossoms and autumn leaves. What's more, some European countries also have a tradition of strong connection with nature (e.g. pagans and neo-pagans in Britain). But there isn't such a media-sponsored tourism industry around it (and this is new in Japan). Why ? Because most Westerners (and especially the British) have their own garden, or can enjoy nature in their city's numerous parks (London has so many public parks compared to Tokyo). So the Japanese have no other choice by go far away and maybe stay for a night or two, just to admire nature.
For most of societies it was the elite or upper class that produced fine art, the lower class or peasants were too busy struggling to survive to take the time to look at a tree and draw it, let alone afford the materials to create such art. This tendency even follows the good old "hierarchy of needs" in psychology.

As for the "trips" to admire nature; I'm not strong nature person myself, but even I am tempted to make a spur of the moment trip to Hokkaido to see the trees from the pictures I've seen. There are some REALLY wonderful sites in Japan if you love nature, even if you only casually observe it is easy to appreciate. There seem to be numerous places where one can explore nature in Japan, but it is the significant events that seems to draw the most attention, not an urge to see a tree after being around too many people. I know very few American’s who maintain gardens, and if you look at cities like New York or LA, I don’t see an increased desire to appreciate nature.

I dunno, I can't really see population having to do much with a desire to appreciate nature. I see it as more of a cultural and geographical reason. Look at India, they have some of the most crowded spots in the world right now and there isn't nearly as strong desire to go on nature trips as in Japan.

We need more "Nihonjin" perspective on this I think!