The Signs

Revitalizing Forestry

The lumber shortage of 2021 and the suspension of Russian exports have presented a major challenge to the Japanese housing industry, which has come to rely on cheap foreign import of timber. In response, attention is shifting to domestically produced lumber. Efforts to revitalize the forestry industry are underway, including a business that commodifies entire trees, local production and consumption of houses with wood sourced from Tokyo, and construction of high-rise buildings made with wood.