Coexistence and harmony with the natural environment have become indispensable themes in urban planning and community development. Amidst this, while measures to maintain and conserve the remaining natural environment are proposed, efforts in "environmental restoration"—actively restoring environments destroyed by humans—are gaining momentum.

Coexistence and harmony with the natural environment have become indispensable themes in urban planning and community development. Amidst this, while measures to maintain and conserve the remaining natural environment are proposed, efforts in "environmental restoration"—actively restoring environments destroyed by humans—are gaining momentum.
This trend is becoming increasingly evident even in public works projects, which previously focused solely on development, and the number of environmental restoration-type public works projects is growing.
Headquartered in Niwa District, Aichi Prefecture, MIC Corporation has been engaged in restoring natural environments in forests and watersides since its establishment in 1988, making it a pioneer in this field. The company undertakes projects not only in Japan but also overseas. We spoke with President Fumikazu Maeda (52), who is often out in the field and has a deep tan. Restoring the original natural environment is our theme.
The company currently handles a wide range of services, from surveys, research, planning, and design for natural environment restoration to planting guidance, management, and supplying greening materials. What runs through all this is the philosophy of collecting seeds from plants that were originally native to the land, nurturing them until they can withstand the site's environment, and restoring the area to its natural state. Before founding MIK, President Maeda worked in sales for a landscaping company and was also involved in industrial greening projects.
However, at that time, it was common practice to simply plant non-native trees around factories, resulting in uniform, rather bland stands of trees. He began questioning this approach. He started researching plants that were originally native to the land, such as those found in sacred forests and estate woods, and began encouraging companies to plant these instead. "But simply digging up native species from the mountains and planting them would be completely meaningless.
That would just create another form of environmental destruction." Instead, he adopted a method using "pot seedlings" – saplings grown from acorns and other seeds collected in large quantities from the forest, planted in pots, and nurtured. Pot seedlings allowed obtaining saplings without destroying nature and were convenient to transport. This planting approach led him toward natural environment restoration. He became independent in 1988 and established MIK as an environmental creation venture company.
This method of greening using young seedlings based on vegetation surveys, aimed at natural restoration, is the ecological engineering technique advocated by ecologist Professor Emeritus Akira Miyawaki of Yokohama National University (currently Director of the International Center for Ecology). The restoration of vegetation aiming for "regional natural forests," "climax forests," and "potential natural vegetation" was also the concept behind creating the forest of Meiji Jingu Shrine, which began afforestation in 1915.
President Maeda studied under Professor Miyawaki, and MIKK now practices and promotes the professor's theories. To date, MIKK has collaborated with Professor Miyawaki on vegetation surveys, design, and planting at over 300 locations. These include national highways, bypass roadsides, parks, shopping centers, and schools. Even in harsh environmental conditions, the high survival rate is attributed to planting after seedlings have been grown to a certain size.
Furthermore, their work extends beyond Japan to include tropical rainforest restoration overseas. For Mitsubishi Corporation's rainforest afforestation project in Malaysia from 1991 to 1993, they flew to the site with Professor Miyawaki to conduct surveys. They collected native seeds, began producing bottled seedlings, and handled the entire process from site surveying and design to construction supervision for the planting.
Riparian Restoration Projects. Meanwhile, since 1992, efforts have focused equally on restoring both forests and riparian areas. The "Bestmann System," developed through a 1992 technical partnership with Germany's Bestmann GmbH, has proven highly effective. This system involves installing mats or rolls made of palm fiber, pre-planted with aquatic plants, along water edges.
It enables "vegetated revetments" that protect shorelines through the formation of aquatic plants, rather than the conventional concrete or block revetments used to prevent erosion.
Vegetated revetments offer multiple benefits: the roots of aquatic plants bind the soil to prevent erosion, they provide habitats for fish and birds, and the plants absorb, adsorb, and precipitate nitrogen and phosphorus, helping purify the water. Unlike concrete revetments, they also renew themselves annually through natural cycles, a significant advantage.
"While vegetative revetments can be challenging to implement in many locations due to Japan's numerous fast-flowing river sections, they can be efficiently established. This is achieved by nurturing the plants until they can withstand the environment, similar to standard planting, and by using a coconut fiber planting substrate. This substrate significantly reduces the risk of plant death or erosion, enabling efficient formation of the vegetative revetment."
The byproduct, coconut fiber, is imported from Southeast Asia where it was nearly discarded and reused. It naturally decomposes in water, but by that time, the plants have firmly established their roots. Selecting the introduced plant species is also crucial in this riparian restoration. Beyond choosing native species, ecologically optimal plant species are selected while considering factors like water quality and flow velocity.
The company maintains a 2,000-square-meter experimental research field and an 8,000-square-meter production field. There, they cultivate over 25 types of aquatic plants at any given time, including reeds, cattails, and ornamental plants like Japanese water lilies for color combinations. "Some species require about three years of cultivation before they can be deployed on-site. To meet various needs, we engage in a certain amount of forward-looking production."
Increased orders from government agencies. Previously, most orders came from private sources like factories, power plants, and corporate afforestation projects. Now, however, 70% of orders originate from government entities. Particularly in the field of riparian restoration, concerns about the ecological impact of concrete revetments have grown annually. Concurrently, the 1998 revision of the River Act added the perspective of "river environment improvement and conservation" to river administration, which had previously focused solely on flood control and water utilization.
The Ministry of Construction, which manages rivers, and prefectural governments are now obligated to formulate "River Improvement Plans" reflecting the voices of local governments and residents, and to disclose information about projects. "Because of these factors, even on rivers with concrete revetments, the use of the Bestman System is increasing. It's positioned as an auxiliary method for creating diverse low-water channels, part of a more natural river design approach, to make the concrete less conspicuous. I believe we are entering an era where construction cannot begin unless the natural environment aspects are clearly defined at local explanatory meetings."
As of December 1998, the Bestman System had already been adopted at 176 locations, with over 40 new sites added annually since 1996. Forests created by the company naturally become more abundant without human intervention within three years, while riparian areas achieve this within one year.
"Our job is solely to write the script," President Maeda states definitively. Plants introduced to restore original vegetation gradually blend into the surrounding environment over time, forming plant communities. The company stands out as one of the few capable of undertaking true "nature restoration" projects, intersecting the functionality of civil engineering (like flood prevention) with the aesthetic expertise of landscape architects.
As environmental issues and awareness of nature deepen, the company is likely to gain even more prominence.