Do the Japanese really love nature more than all other people ?

[pipokun]

A terrible earthquake had it happened on land, but in the sea it only produced a small tsunami.

Don't forget what happened just two years ago.

Shirakami-Sanchi, a beautiful mountain area in the northern honshu, has been registered as a world-heritage site. Some areas, however, turn to be off-limits to anybody incl. Matagi, traditional hunters.

You may think it hypocratic that many institutes conducting animal tests here do memorial services for the animals, but it is a bit more peaceful than violent activists, isn't it? I totally agree the fewer tests, the better, though.

[caster51]

Because what interests me here is whether our members think (through Japanese propaganda, for instance) that the Japanese indeed love nature more than all people in the world (not just Europeans).

？？
BTW
who is thinking like that?

[ralian]

Maciamo, have you ever thought how much you are hurting our feeling by bashing Japan like this?
Maybe you will say that you are not bashing Japan at all.
However, what you are doing here is hurting JREF.
I certainly do not appreciate your effort.
Your aurgument here is quite irrelevant and incorrect.

[Maciamo]

Maciamo, have you ever thought how much you are hurting our feeling by bashing Japan like this?
Maybe you will say that you are not bashing Japan at all.
However, what you are doing here is hurting JREF.
I certainly do not appreciate your effort.
Your aurgument here is quite irrelevant and incorrect.

I could say the same. Do you have any idea how much you (the Japanese) have been hurting my feelings by bashing the rest of the world like this ?
Maybe you will say that you are not bashing the rest of the world at all.
Your argument here is quite irrelevant and incorrect.

[ralian]

I could say the same. Do you have any idea how much you (the Japanese) have been hurting my feelings by bashing the rest of the world like this ?
Maybe you will say that you are not bashing the rest of the world at all.
Your argument here is quite irrelevant and incorrect.

Is this what you think?
You have quite an interesting opinion.

Anyway, I don't quite understand why you want to label Japanese and their culture in such a way.
What's the point?

[gaijinalways]

kinsao,

Great post. Even as Maciamo pointed out, you're only focusing on two of his points that were discussed a bit in this thread, your points raised about the attitude to nature and the cost (time and money) of access are good ones. This is something I miss myself, being able to easily access more natural areas from my home. Previously, in Hong Kong of all places, a reservoir area was just a ten minute bus ride from my home in the New territories, or later from my village on Lantau Island (now near the new airport). In the US it was similar, I sometimes lived just minutes from canoeing and hiking areas. Here, it's more like an all-day affair to get to nicer areas that are often overcrowded. I only dream about day hikes now .

I would claim that the natural conditions of some of the national parks here are not well maintained. As a prime example, the aforementioned Oze garbage dumping cleanup which was highlighted in the news recently, where tons of garbage were located and removed from this part of Nikko National Park. Many of the owners of the inns and pensions located in and on the edges of the park couldn't be bother to pay to remove garbage generated by their paying guests.

Another area, though not a national park, is the shoreline areas in Japan. Some Japanese rave about natural and historic Kamakura, yet when I visited there the beach was literally a garbage dump! It certainly seems that Japanese perspectivess of nature are slightly different than Western perspectives.

As to the interest in nature programs, I too am less interested in accurate cataloguing of species of trees, etc. It is similar with art, I know what I like, I don't always need to memorize the history of the painter's background and style to appreciate the paintings I look at. So I don't fault the Japanese for a lack of interest in botany or zoology.

I really do think that this current generation in Japan is 'tech-crazy', and that may be causing some people to be less interested. Also, I think some people see rural living as less fashiobale. Finally, because of government influence on education people are also less interested in the great outdoors. Certainly in more rural areas in Japan it is not necessarily the case, but the majority of Japanese live in urban areas.

But then again, in many other countries so do large populations that work in the city, either living there or nearby as they also do in Japan. Is it that most Japanese cities are not built with keeping natural areas nearby, in other words, do the suburbs expand so much they become urbanized suburbs as well? Like the infamous Tokyo to Hiroshima Honshu Island industrial/commercial/residential sprawl, sometimes you can go forever and never escape a very unnatural landscape (kinda reminds me of some parts of New Jersey! Garden State indeed).

[Maciamo]

kinsao,
Great post. Even as Maciamo pointed out, you're only focusing on two of his points that were discussed a bit in this thread, your points raised about the attitude to nature and the cost (time and money) of access are good ones. This is something I miss myself, being able to easily access more natural areas from my home. Previously, in Hong Kong of all places, a reservoir area was just a ten minute bus ride from my home in the New territories, or later from my village on Lantau Island (now near the new airport). In the US it was similar, I sometimes lived just minutes from canoeing and hiking areas. Here, it's more like an all-day affair to get to nicer areas that are often overcrowded. I only dream about day hikes now

In Brussels (pop. 1 million by night, 3 million by day with commuters), in addition to 101 parks witin the city limits, there is a beautiful 5,000 ha forest (50km2, i.e. about the size of the Edogawa or Nerima wards in Tokyo), half of which is within the city limits. The Sonian Forest, as it is called in English, is only about 5-15min (depending on whether you go by car, train or metro) away from the very centre of the city.

I am one of the few non-Japanese in the world who has taken the same to make an extensive guide of the parks and gardens in Tokyo, so I know what I am talking about when comparing green urban areas. The largest park within the 23 wards is Kasai Rinkai Koen (葛西臨海公園) which is nearly 80 ha. The largest park in Tokyo-to within the urban area (without taking the train for 2 hours to Chichibu) is Showa Kinen Koen, which is 138 ha.

The 23 wards of Tokyo sprawl over 616 km2, and are thus about 4x bigger than the state of Brussels (161 km2). Yet, with a night population 8x superior (10x if we include the rest of Tokyo-to) to Brussels, the Tokyoites only have easy access to 717 ha (7 km2) of sizeable parks and gardens (i.e. those I have listed, omitting tiny parks that are no bigger than a backyard) for recreation and enjoying nature. That's a bit over 1% of green areas for Tokyo...

Official statitics show that 27% of Brussels' land area is covered by public parks and gardens, and 17% by private parks and gardens (the latter is close to 0 in Tokyo). The total of green spaces in the Belgian/European capital represent 53% of the total area, and this only includes about half of the 50 km2 of the Sonian Forest within the city limits... (once you are in it, city borders don't count anymore).

The largest parks in Brussels are also bigger than those in Tokyo's 23 wards. The Bois de la Cambre, for instance, extends over 125 ha, and has ponds with water birds, hills, and roads by bicycles and rollerskates.

In spite of the immensely higher percentage of green areas in Brussels compared to Tokyo (about 50x more), and the lower density of population in Brussels (about half), I found the parks in Brussels to be much more crowded than in Tokyo (see the pics in link above). This reflects, in my opinion, the much greater need (not just interest or liking) of Belgian/Brussels people to be close to nature, if not compared to all Japanese people the at least the 10 million of Tokyoites. On any sunny weekend in Brussels parks get as crowded as during the one-week of cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo !

[Maciamo]

Is this what you think?
You have quite an interesting opinion.
Anyway, I don't quite understand why you want to label Japanese and their culture in such a way.
What's the point?

Get this out of my head as I have been tormented by it on a nearly daily basis for over 4 years. The trauma will take time to heal, but talking about it helps.