A Local Poem Carving a Green Hole - Kawachinagano City, Osaka Prefecture, 1990s

A Local Poem Carving a Green Hole - Kawachinagano City, Osaka Prefecture, 1990s
In the 1990s, Japan was in a period of turmoil following the bursting of the bubble economy, and golf courses were both a symbol of expansionist policies and a byword for environmental destruction. Amid growing social criticism of the massive use of agricultural chemicals and herbicides, which caused groundwater contamination and ecosystem destruction, the Amanoyama Country Club, located in the suburbs of a city, began an unusual experiment. The club set up a charcoal-making hut on its premises and produced its own charcoal from logged branches and pruning wood, which was then submerged in ponds and waterways to absorb and remove pesticide residue. The by-product, wood vinegar, was used to control pests, and the charcoal ash was reused as a soil conditioner. Through such cyclic use, water quality improved and genji fireflies, which had been lost, were once again seen dancing in the night sky, symbolizing the restoration of the ecosystem in the area. At the time, preservation
of biodiversity was becoming an important theme in environmental policy, and the revival of fireflies was noted as a symbolic achievement of "a society living in harmony with nature. This effort was a pioneering example of how a golf course could be transformed from a symbol of the destruction of nature to a stage for environmental restoration. The intersection of the tradition of water quality improvement technology using activated carbon and modern golf course management proved that an industry that had been criticized could be transformed into a new environmentally conscious management.