anybody know any thing about tree care in japan?

[nor cal firs]

im wondering because i cant find anything on the net.
but i was in japan and i saw sum guys using a bucket truck to trim some trees in hiroshima. but i have never seen or herd of climbers or how thay do big removal wen thay cant get a buket truck in there.

 

[Kikori]

Most of the trees within the cities of Japan have already been cut down or reduced to an embarasing shaft that resembles a finely pruned poodle's tail. Some large trees do exist, but they are mostly located on the grounds of temples and shrines where development is prohibited. I lived in Japan for three years and I saw actual tree work taking place once. I guess you were lucky to witness some real tree work go down. There are obvious exceptions to my comments, but in general this has been my experience.

Are you more inquiring about the possiblity of seeking out work in Japan as an arborist or tree worker?? I would guess this would be a real long shot. Western foreigner jobs in Japan are limited to English teacher, bartender, and a few other special cases. Language and culture barier play heavy. Don't let this comment discourage you though. Again, just relaying what I saw. Japan is a great place. Got any more questions?

p.s. did you go to the A-Bomb museum?

 

[jmack]

utility

im wondering because i cant find anything on the net.
but i was in japan and i saw sum guys using a bucket truck to trim some trees in hiroshima. but i have never seen or herd of climbers or how thay do big removal wen thay cant get a buket truck in there.

a few years back they were recruiting heaviliy for utility tree care japan , china, malaysia. haedhunters reached out, sounded like an adventure, let me know what turns up mean while i try to find the hunters firm j

 

[jp hallman]

Isn't it in Japan where they hold the yearly ritual of sliding a huge log down a steep hill with 50-60 guys riding it!? Saw it on some TV show a year or so ago.
It's an honor to be on the log. Only the bravest men from each little town are picked. Then they "fight" amongst themselves for a front position. It's a big log! Perhaps they imported it from Oregon. Naaa, I seem to remember the ceremony of chopping it down, with axes.
It was great entertainment, would love to go see it in person.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

From what I understand, jobs in japan have different classes. Arboricultural work is classed as very low as its dirty, outdoors and hard work. Its considered beneath most japanese. Hey always knew i was classless!

 

[rebelman]

Weren't the masters in Japan teaching proper care and pruning thousands of years ago? Didn't they understand more about trees then than most americans now? Don't Japanese gardens show an advanced understanding? I remember reading that racism against the Japanese caused us to regress in uderstanding, because at the same time chainsaws enabled large flush cuts to become fashionable, whereas with hand saws and the Japanese school the point outside the collar had been the fashion. The american way ignores root zones completely also.

 

[jmack]

cheese

Isn't it in Japan where they hold the yearly ritual of sliding a huge log down a steep hill with 50-60 guys riding it!? Saw it on some TV show a year or so ago.
It's an honor to be on the log. Only the bravest men from each little town are picked. Then they "fight" amongst themselves for a front position. It's a big log! Perhaps they imported it from Oregon. Naaa, I seem to remember the ceremony of chopping it down, with axes.
It was great entertainment, would love to go see it in person.

yes and they chase cheese down hills in the uk and ride horseys down hills here in the good ole usa. however the question is tree care in japan.........

 

[jp hallman]

You're correct. Did you read all of the posts? It was mentioned very few large trees exist in Japan. Could it be because they've been riding them downhill for years? Just a thought. Can't see where you've answered any questions.

 

[nor cal firs]

Most of the trees within the cities of Japan have already been cut down or reduced to an embarasing shaft that resembles a finely pruned poodle's tail. Some large trees do exist, but they are mostly located on the grounds of temples and shrines where development is prohibited. I lived in Japan for three years and I saw actual tree work taking place once. I guess you were lucky to witness some real tree work go down. There are obvious exceptions to my comments, but in general this has been my experience.

Are you more inquiring about the possiblity of seeking out work in Japan as an arborist or tree worker?? I would guess this would be a real long shot. Western foreigner jobs in Japan are limited to English teacher, bartender, and a few other special cases. Language and culture barier play heavy. Don't let this comment discourage you though. Again, just relaying what I saw. Japan is a great place. Got any more questions?

p.s. did you go to the A-Bomb museum?

most citys i visited in japan did not have big trees.
but hiroshima did. the a-bomb museum is actualy were i saw the bucket truck working. and there wer big trees in the resadental area also.
were in japan did you live? and did you teach english?
i love japan and i loved living there but i hated teaching english.
i wuld love to live there and do tree work. but like you say the aria i lived in (kushiro) had no need for tree work. but hiroshima looked like it i did.

i happend to be luky enuff to see the log riding event in person.
i was in nagoya and met a enthusiastic japanese person redy to etend the event the next day. thay invited me and i went. i had never herd of it before and it was insane! thay slid abot 4 logs and yelled and pounded drums between every log slide after the log and all the guys riding it flew down the hill thay carryed it thru the freazing cold river.
it was a grat event

 

[nor cal firs]

Most of the trees within the cities of Japan have already been cut down or reduced to an embarasing shaft that resembles a finely pruned poodle's tail. Some large trees do exist, but they are mostly located on the grounds of temples and shrines where development is prohibited. I lived in Japan for three years and I saw actual tree work taking place once. I guess you were lucky to witness some real tree work go down. There are obvious exceptions to my comments, but in general this has been my experience.

Are you more inquiring about the possiblity of seeking out work in Japan as an arborist or tree worker?? I would guess this would be a real long shot. Western foreigner jobs in Japan are limited to English teacher, bartender, and a few other special cases. Language and culture barier play heavy. Don't let this comment discourage you though. Again, just relaying what I saw. Japan is a great place. Got any more questions?

p.s. did you go to the A-Bomb museum?

most citys i visited in japan did not have big trees.
but hiroshima did. the a-bomb museum is actualy were i saw the bucket truck working. and there wer big trees in the resadental area also.
were in japan did you live? and did you teach english?
i love japan and i loved living there but i hated teaching english.
i wuld love to live there and do tree work. but like you say the aria i lived in (kushiro) had no need for tree work. but hiroshima looked like it i did.

i happend to be luky enuff to see the log riding event in person.
i was in nagoya and met a enthusiastic japanese person redy to etend the event the next day. thay invited me and i went. i had never herd of it before and it was insane! thay slid abot 4 logs and yelled and pounded drums between every log slide after the log and all the guys riding it flew down the hill thay carryed it thru the freazing cold river.
it was a grat event

 

[jp hallman]

Great! Would be a hoot to see in person! Good friend of mine is a timber broker. He's been to Japan several times to get to know the people he's selling logs to. Many small "Mom and Pop" mills there so he tells me. They'll buy one log and work at it for a couple weeks. They don't waste a thing. Small bit of bark and sawdust when they're finished. If they'll buy Oregon timber must not be a whole lot of trees left.

 

[clearance]

Nor Cal-Not trying to be a knob but how could there be any big trees in Horoshima, or Nagasaki for that matter. 60 years isn't enough to make a big tree.

 

[jmack]

ask

You're correct. Did you read all of the posts? It was mentioned very few large trees exist in Japan. Could it be because they've been riding them downhill for years? Just a thought. Can't see where you've answered any questions.

ask me

 

[rich_h]

Having been to Japan twice I found lots of strange arboricultural practices. I'm not saying they are right or wrong, just very different than what we practice in the west. This first shot shows some of the huge stilt systems that I assume take the place of cables. You could find these things in all sorts of trees, but mainly in the rare few large ones located in Tokyo. There are some large trees in Tokyo but like stated earlier they are mainly on the temple grounds.

 

[rich_h]

these next shots show some of the pruning practices that we saw in Kyoto. I would imagine that most of us would call this overpruning at worst and pollarding at best, but all things considered, if these trees were not pruned like this there is a good shot they wouldn't have any trees in the city.

 

[rich_h]

Here are some shots of different methods of pruning Ginkgos in Japan. Both of these were taken in Tokyo. Notice the aerial roots on the larger one. I never saw that before or since.

 

[rich_h]

This was my favorite part. We just happened to wander by a tree being removed in Tokyo at the Iranian Embassy. You couldnt find a chain saw anywhere. Is there a noise ordinance in Tokyo against the use of saws? Anyway, they had this big lobster claw looking thing that would just reach up and grab a hold on a limb and then ripppppp. It never cut the wood at all, just ripped it off the tree.

 

[rich_h]

One great spot to see large trees in Japan is in Nikko. Not only do you travel through bamboo forests to get there , but once there the trees are just plain beautiful. Here are a few shots from there.

 

[moss]

Nice photos Rich! Thanks for posting them. It looks like the lobsterclaw rig was being used for a take-down, yes? Doesn't look like a sustainable pruning method

From what I know about about rec climbing in Japan technical tree climbing is a new idea over there. The traditional method is to construct scaffolding (bamboo?) to work in trees.

This U.S. arborist does treework in Japan:
Midori Horticultural

-moss

 

[Chris J.]

There's an AS member who lives in Japan, his AS handle is Stu in Tokyo. He has posted in the chainsaw forum about getting logs from tree services.