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mugen 2008
Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:45 am

Re: Hiking in Japan [E]
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Well I do understand your point of view. However my intentions are not to romanticizing Japan. But far too people in my home country view only Japan as a big city as it is the only images broadcasts on TV and medias. My point is just to say that Japan is not only that and that it can also be a great place for outdoor aficionados.

Please also note that I have never said that Japan nature was virgin. I said that IN COMPARISON to it's big metropolitan areas it looked ALMOST virgin. But any way if I just talk about France, you won't find either a single virgin forest. All forests have been exploited for centuries and are still exploited and controlled by humans. And I guess it is the same in neighbouring countries. Still every year thousands of tourists come from abroad to enjoy European Alps landscapes and wilderness... 

It is true that one reason for the forest not to be exploited today is that it is cheaper to import wood from abroad. But still  mountains forests have almost never been exploited in Japan history, in order to avoid landslides and floods (except during the first and second world war, as far as I know,  when they cut bunch of forests which created irrigation problems in the plains leading to insufficient rice production). So it is also historical.

You also can't compare Canada to Japan (or even Europe). Countries are not at the same latitudes and longitudes, landscapes are different. So of course climates are different and so is vegetation.  Country sizes are also different, we don't have in our countries inaccessible remote areas like in Canada. So no, you won't find in mainland Japan inextricable jungle-like dense forests, like you can find in Canada. But that doesn't mean they are "tree farms", "not wild" or "not virgin". I also don't agree with your comment "They were simply a bunch of Americans who had never seen a real forest". What is a real forest ? There are all sort or forests, each one having it's own vegetation, fauna, climate, history and relation with humans. And the combination of all these elements makes it unique and interesting and should be enjoyed for what it is. But you said it yourself, "It will still be enjoyable".

What I am trying to say is that Canada's wilderness is not Japan's wilderness neither France's wilderness or somewhere else wilderness. But Japan do have it's own and unique wilderness that is really enjoyable and a great place for outdoors activities.

By the way, what type of internet connections did you had when you where trying to look at my website? Where you trying to access it from Canada?