With so much debris left over from the tsunami, it’s a challenge for the local government in the affected areas to think of solutions to deal with them. At the moment in Otsuchi, one of the project that they are pushing forward is to bury some of the non-toxic biodegradable debris into the ground and create a ‘great wall of greenery’ on top. The “wall” will function as a protection from the future tsunami, have a positive impact in the natural environment in addressing climate change, and the grown trees can protect the residents from the gusty wind in this area.
In this project, it seemed that the Yokohama rubber tire company sponsored in some way. I don’t know how tires and the environment can actually be friends together, but from their website, they have been developing eco-friendly tires that are fuel and speed efficient on vehicles. However, other then that, I suppose tires are still tires.
The chief of this re-planation is Professor Akira Miyawaki, who is a physiognomist, and an expert in restoring forests. Prof. Miyawaki has a special method in replantation of forests that named after him. The idea was to plant different types of native trees closely and randomly together so that diversity and resistance can be nourish by itself. In his method, weeding and other human support are not needed after the first 3 years of planting. More details of the Miyawaki Method is worthwhile to check out.
So, for Otsuchi’s great wall of greenery, 16 types of tree will be planted.
After a series of happy photos for the press, we gathered by the D section to get ready for some real action.
You can see that the trees are actually being planted really close together, plus the great amount of volunteers, it is really difficult to move around.
After planting, we used straws to cover the bare soil around the trees.
Then, we tied them down with ropes.
After the planting 3000 small trees, our reward was a neat Japanese lunch box and some live music entertainment from the local high school. They were both fantastic.
