Of course, if Japan is going to exploit its forests, it has to avoid the same mistakes made in Southeast Asia, where cheap wood means the clear-cutting of tropical forests. Junichi Mishiba, forest project coordinator at the non-profit Friends of the Earth Japan, worries that more incentives to cut down trees is leading to bad environmental practices. “There is an increase in clear-cut areas resulting from policies promoting harvesting,” he says.
To support its efforts to replace the plantations, in 2024 the national government began collecting a new tax of 1000 yen ($6/£5) per year on all residents. The money is being used to support sustainable forestry, including reducing plantation forests and replacing older sugi with new, low-pollen seedlings, especially in urban areas.
Data on its impact is not yet available, but Mori argues the support is not enough, with municipalities often lacking the capacity and expertise to design and monitor such changes to forests. A 2023 report by the Forest Declaration Assessment noted that in recent years, only 30-40% of Japan’s newly harvested land has been replanted
Good forest management will be essential, agrees Mika Akesaka, an associate professor of economics at Kobe University. Leaving felled trees unmanaged, for example, can increase landslide risk and reduce water retention capacity, she says.
Mishiba, though, fears that by focusing only on seasonal allergies rather than wider ecological indicators, Japan is once again prioritising short-term solutions. The country needs to think 50 or even 100 years ahead, he says, considering biodiversity, climate and the role of the people who will live alongside these forests.
Japan’s ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries did not respond to a request for comment on these concerns.
Climate threat
Urgency to act is also growing because of another unplanned factor – climate change. Around the world, temperature and weather shifts are impacting pollen spread and Japan saw its earliest pollen dispersal ever in 2025.
It’s not just people: animals can suffer from hay fever too, such as this Japanese macaque monkey in Sumoto, Japan in 2014
“Pollen dispersal is greatly influenced by weather conditions such as temperature and wind,” says Mai Sato, a spokesperson with the Japan Weather Association (JWA), a forecasting company which releases regular pollen forecasts to the public.
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