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sanji
Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:29 am


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First of all, I have no problem to access to http://www.tozai-trek.com ...

Now about wilderness in Japan, I think that we have to put things in perspective: Japan is a relatively small and crowded country. Still, nature is much more present in Japan that in any country in continental Europe, for example. There certainly are limited "virgin" forests, but there are some; Shirakami is one of them, but you will find that Iriomote island (Okinawa-ken) has one, too. What makes Japan impressive - at least for me - is that you can travel for a short period of time from a very large city and find yourself in a relatively wild area.

Certainly New Zealand or Hawaii - two places I really like - have wilder forests, but those are remote islands that where never inhabited by a large population, so comparison is not fair.

There are also specific features that are found in Japan, like the presence of a strong volcanic activity almost everywhere in the country, or the fact that when traveling from north to south you can go from a cold pine forest to a wet tropical one.

And all of those are accessible to people living with millions of others in some of the largest cities in the world. This is what makes really Japan special for me...