by
Photo: More Trees
Many know the late Ryuichi Sakamoto as a pianist, record producer, actor, and film composer whose soulful tunes in movies like The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence beautifully captured feelings of longing, regret, and heartache in ways that linger in the listener’s memory.
But few know that he was also active in social issues. In 2006, he launched Stop Rokkasho, a campaign calling for the closure of the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant in the Japanese village of Rokkasho.
Composer and environmentalist
Sakamoto was also a dedicated environmentalist. In 2007, with four friends from the arts and music industries, he established More Trees, a forest conservation organisation walking the talk to slow down damage to the earth caused by accelerating forest destruction and global warming.
A recent event, “A Conversation with Kengo Kuma,” was held in Ace Hotel Kyoto from March 28 to April 14 to raise awareness of the city and commemorate Ryuichi Sakamoto’s one-year death anniversary; in the picture, the Japanese architect is on the right, and Shinkichi Mizutani is on the left. (Photo: Sadaho Naito)
“More Trees plans and organises various programs, aiming for a society where forests and people coexist for generations. It is grounded by the ethos of ‘connecting cities and forests’,” explains Shinkichi Mizutani.
The executive director of More Trees first met Sakamoto while working for another Japanese reforestation non-profit organisation in Indonesia. “Sakamoto asked me to lead his then-newly established forest conservation organisation, and I accepted his offer without hesitation,” he shares.
An illustration of the More Trees ecosystem. (Photo: More Trees)
Mizutani was drawn to the cause of the composer, who had started speaking out on environmental and social issues after his son was born in the 1990s. “He had a great passion for passing on nature’s beauty for future generations, as embodied in the organisation’s message,” comments Mizutani.
Humans have always coexisted with forests. But, where forests collapse, so do civilisations. The forests falling apart around the world seems to forewarn us of the place human civilisation is heading towards.
Japan is a country that relies on its abundance of forests, which capture CO2, store water, nourish living things, and nurture oceans. Together, we can pass on the precious forests for the future generations.
More Trees!!
This manifesto highlights the situation’s urgency and the symbiotic relationship between nature and humans. This is especially relevant to Japan, where 70 per cent of the land is covered in forests.
“Planted forests account for 30 per cent of Japan’s forestland and are now ready to be harvested. Although logging continues, managing reforestation has become a major problem since Japan’s forest industry has declined,” says Shinkichi Mizutani. (Photo: More Trees)
Reforestation with a purpose and goal
Mizutani explains that while government strategies of planting sugi (Japanese cedar) and hinoki (Japanese cypress) after World War II led to increased forest areas over the past 100 years, there was inadequate follow-up such as thinning, a process of removing unwanted trees to accelerate the growth of remaining trees.
“More Trees aims to recover diverse forest functions by achieving healthy forests through reforestation and maintenance,” Mizutani explains. Japan has more than 500 native tree types. The challenge is picking out what to plant in order to recover biodiversity in forests containing predominantly sugi or hinoki trees. To do this, factors such as the environment and vision for each forest have to be researched.
An example of a forest before thinning. (Photo: More Trees)
An example is Tenkawa Village in Japan’s Nara Prefecture, where the increased planting of sugi and hinoki over the last century reduced the numbers of the kihada tree, which produces raw material for Daranisuke-gan (a traditional herbal medicine for digestive disorders). As a result, raw materials for the medicine have to be purchased from other places.
“Yamabushi mountain ascetic hermits carried the medicine with them during training, and that custom has been kept alive for 1,300 years,” shares Mizutani. “Planting kihada with other broadleaf trees in Tenkawa Village will not only revive a diverse forest; it also means a comeback of Daranisuke-gan as the village’s speciality. The ultimate goal of our projects is to achieve both economic and environmental sustainability.”
Planting of Kihada tree in Tenkawa Village, located at the centre of the steep and rugged Kii Peninsula reaching altitudes of up to 2,000m. (Photo: More Trees)
While More Trees’ work in Japan is the organisation’s main focus, it also lends its expertise abroad, such as in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, where persistent slash-and-burn practices lead to large-scale forest fires.
Humans have always coexisted with forests. But, where forests collapse, so do civilisations.
“In 2015, massive forest fires burned 266 out of 1,800ha of orangutan rehabilitation sites. We started a joint project with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS Foundation) to restore the forests for the orangutans, growing local plants and fruit trees, and installing fire-preventing infrastructures such as firebreaks and water reservoirs,” says Mizutani.
A three-pronged approach to carbon offsetting
Trees are “blessings” from Mother Nature, he asserts. “We believe one of the causes of deforestation is that we no longer feel connected to the forests anymore in this modern society.”
An orangutan at a rehabilitation centre. (Photo: More Trees)
To this end, More Trees’ work outside the forests is as important as its work within. The organisation’s four core pillars (forest conservation, carbon offset, utilisation of timber, and events) reflect that, with the latter three mainly conducted in urban areas.
With regard to the second pillar, Mizutani elaborates, “Carbon dioxide emitted through corporate activities is offset by forests in our project areas or other local areas in Japan absorbing the emissions. Our services enable carbon offset with credits that are clearly traceable regarding when, where, and how they were generated. The price paid for the service is given back to forest conservation activities.”
More Trees’ Tsumiki uses cedar from Miyazaki Prefecture and reinforces its corners with a traditional method called Nukisashi that lets the pieces be light. (Photo: More Trees)
Instead of being piled up like blocks like traditional Tsumiki sets, Kengo Kuma’s triangle-shaped Tsumiki uses “twig” details to enable the joining of the thin and narrow sticks into larger forms. (Photo: More Trees)
More Trees also creates domestic timber products, such as Tsumiki building blocks designed by architect Kengo Kuma, who succeeded Sakamoto as the organisation’s representative.
“We hope that the hands-on experience with our products and workshops (to make timber items like stools and spoons) brings more people closer to forests and encourages them to make sustainable purchases,” Mizutani remarks.
For More Trees’ 10th anniversary, Jasper Morrison and Wataru Kumano created a series of stools made with hinoki wood from Gifu Prefecture, where one of More Trees’ forests is located. (Photo: More Trees)
Communicating about More Trees’ ethos and work is important for awareness and support (the organisation now has more than 200 corporate supporters). And the fourth pillar of events, comprising collaborations, seminars, and workshops helps with that.
Even after Sakamoto’s death, his legacy lives on. When friends and family suggested on social media for fans and friends to plant a tree each as a tribute, the organisation, along with the composer’s management label and other associated designers and companies, launched “Trees for Sakamoto” — a donation platform for tree planting. As of end-January 2024, the platform has collected an impressive amount that contributes to the planting of 6,299 trees worldwide.
