A Quiet Turning Point Echoed in the Mountains: The Transformation of Mountain Villages Brought about by Forestry Liberalization, 1960s-1970s

A Quiet Turning Point Echoed in the Mountains: The Transformation of Mountain Villages Brought about by Forestry Liberalization, 1960s-1970s

In the 1960s, Japan's mountain villages faced a major turning point. In 1961, the government greatly promoted imports of foreign timber under the guise of stabilizing lumber prices, and in 1964, the government decided to liberalize the timber industry altogether. Japan's postwar reconstruction and rapid economic growth required large volumes of lumber to meet the rapidly increasing demand for housing and civil engineering. However, the domestic supply of lumber was reaching its limits due to a shortage of labor in farming and mountain villages and manual forestry, and the government turned its attention to relying on large volumes of inexpensive lumber from overseas.

As a result, the domestic forestry industry suffered a serious blow. The price of timber, which had previously supported the income of mountain villages, plummeted, and the economic appeal of working in the mountains rapidly waned. Forestry structural improvement projects were implemented throughout the country, including the construction of forest roads, mechanization, and the introduction of timber collection equipment, but this led to the decline of traditional manual forestry work, and many mountain village workers shifted their jobs to primary industries such as agriculture and construction. The cycle of seasonal labor that had taken root in mountain villages was lost, and the way local communities worked and the rhythm of their lives were transformed.

A further problem was the rapid development of artificial forests. However, the increasing dependence on foreign timber led to a series of postponements in the harvesting of these trees, which made it impossible to keep up with the management of the forests. Insufficient thinning of the forests resulted in a lack of light and weakened root systems, making them prone to falling trees and surface collapse during heavy rains. The liberalization of timber trade brought about by rapid economic growth affected not only the economic base of mountain villages, but also the flood control function of the mountains and the balance of the ecosystem.

While the liberalization of foreign timber has enabled a massive supply to support urban life, it has also quietly shaken the livelihoods of mountain villages and changed the very shape of the mountains themselves. The wisdom of mountain care passed down from generation to generation by mountain villagers was pushed out by the rapid wave of the market economy, and the mountains were left behind in time, unmanaged. The fallen trees, landslides, and ruined artificial forests that are still a problem in many places today continue to exist as the lingering effects of the rapid policy changes of this era.