Influence of Forestry on the Formation of National Park Policy in Japan

The national park system of Japan was the first to integrate regulatory land use zoning within scenic areas that encompass a diversity of landownership patterns. This was because zoning regulation was the only practical way to establish national parks in a country lacking public land. The most influential factors determining the park and its zoning boundaries were land ownership and the regulation of forest management of 1933. 90% of proposed park lands was forested and often used for forestry. The boundaries of parks were determined after consideration of landownership: Public forests were preferred, and the restrictions governing private forests were relaxed in the case of inclusion. As a result, only 13% of the park lands were private when the twelve original parks were designated by 1936. As the majority of public land was national forest, the national park system of Japan was based on these forests as cores. This was due to following reasons. First, the national park policy could coexist with forestry when economic pressure was low and harvesting was not mechanized. Second, promoters of national parks were associated with forestry education, and sustainable forestry was popular issue among them. Third, case-study models like the American parks and the domestic Forest Law suggested that management of forested areas in the parks could continue. Thus, forestry was the real force behind the national park policy in Japan. Before the Second World War, influence of forestry on the national park policy was acceptable. However, as economic demands on forests increased after the War, easily manipulated forest landscape guidelines and double agency management made the forest areas in the national parks vulnerable to economic demands and jeopardized national park management.