Every New Beginning Comes from Other Beginning's End: Kanagawa’s forests and aging society

 

And so, Yokohama’s problem of aging population for environmental management is tackled in this way (; my post last week). In numbers as of January 1, 2026, Yokohama has 3,769,748 population which has been increasing in this post-COVID era. Especially, younger generations have moved into our city. They are nullifying the decrease from elderly passing-away. In addition, our city will host International Horticultural Expo in 2027, “Green×Expo” held near Citizen Forests of Northan Yokohama, i.e. Seya, Oiwake, Yasashi, Kamikawai, Miho, and Niiharu (; my posts during 2015). The momentum is building up in our neighborhood greenery. Yokohama can, at least for now, think a way to deal with the greying population as a public relation matter. It should be fortunate. Kanagawa Prefecture has a different problem.

A neighborhood stroll path in Yokohama

Yokohama has 437.4km2, roughly 18% of Kanagawa Prefecture with 2416.55km2. In this limited area we have approx. 41% of Kanagawa’s population with 9,217,647 (as of September 1, 2025). People live in Yokohama is relatively young and increasing. In contrast, for some time Kanagawa Prefecture in total is observing the decrease in population and rapid aging especially in rural areas. Even before the greying problem became obvious, a guy for financial affairs of the Prefectural Office once told me money-wise Kanagawa Prefecture was depending heavily on taxpayers of Yokohama. Well, we Yokohama people are generous. We’re paying 3 different taxes for environmental issues. One is the national tax, Forest Environment Tax. Another is the prefectural tax, Water Source Environmental Protection Tax. And finally Green Tax for the City of Yokohama. Among these three, national tax is returned to the city as a subsidy for “Using Japanese forestry products among citizens.” E.g. Building your home in Yokohama with Japanese timbers will receive municipal support pecuniary. Green tax is for maintaining and expanding your neighborhoods forests of Yokohama. Your family can enjoy your Saturday lunch there easily. Then, Water Source Tax? Er …

This fall, we’ve enjoyed beautiful autumn leaves
in Yokohama’s forests.

Water source forests for Kanagawa Prefecture are in the eastern slopes of Hakone National Park, Tanzawa Mountains and Takao Mountains which are Quasi-national Parks. When the tax was introduced in 2007, the forests of the area were indeed suffering neglect due to already aging and decreasing population of mountain villages. But thanks to the nature of forestry, once the maintenance jobs are done with the tax base, the next job-cycle for such areas begins 20 or more years later. This means, taxing 2026 people for 30-years-later-jobs has a little persuasive power. In addition, for the majority of city rats, i.e. we the people of Yokohama, National Parks are recreational areas, i.e. luxury, and do not have much familiarity with our daily lives. Paying tax for this now? No way.

In Tanzawa, autumn leaves were also splendid this fall.

Of course, the people living in mountain villages must have different opinions. The public works using the income from Water Source Tax has been VERY important income for rural areas. But, that’s that. For example, Yadoriki Community is observing rapidly decreasing population, and the remaining people are more and more aging. Since last year, there is no commercial farmer in Yadoriki Community. Yes, people are tending their veggie fields for home consumption, but no more tea or citrus growing for business. Reason? Ag works on steep slopes are too much for grandpas and grandmas. Younger people have taken city jobs for better pay, commuting to nearby cities which is really near in Kanagawa Prefecture. A familiar story for all over the world, I guess. The issue of Water Source Tax is now not for environment, but for welfare of aging populations. It’s difficult for the Prefectural Office to sustain the argument for the scheme now. Water Source Tax will be abolished in 2027. Soon.

Er … this openness was really something.
But once we realize this is a commuter road
 within Yadoriki community which is
 half an hour car ride from Odakyu Shin-Matsuda Station,
can we simply praise the atmosphere?
Isn’t it desolation?

Last fall, a new honcho has been assigned to the Prefectural division that is in charge of the matters of rural areas in the west of Kanagawa. That person may have been given the mission from the HDQ in Yokohama to rationalize prefectural works for the area. The closure of the visitors’ service for Yadoriki Water Source Forest was announced last month. The deadline was not clarified but the Forest Instructors’ Association was notified to evacuate the buildings rather sooner. The demolition of the admin house at the entrance is said to be started within months. Yeah. Since last summer, those facilities could not have electricity. The Prefecture surveyed the wiring and found several points where the connection was directly eroded by wet soil (; this is water source!). Moreover, the foundations of the log houses are more and more fragile thanks to the decays from high moisture (; this is water source!). For restoration of such structures the Office needs money of certain amount. When there is no solid reasoning to maintain the service and financial arrangement, closure shall be inevitable.

Yadoriki’s toilets are closed.

Instead, portable toilets are situated.
We don’t know how long this service is provided.

It is said that the offices for the Forest of the 21st Century (; my post for July 28, 2017) will also be closed, or the service there will be reduced to the minimum. For both Yadoriki and the 21st C Forests, I know the number of visitors is really small. The rationalization in fiscal expenditure for them is unavoidable. But I think the real difficult part will start after closure. OK. Stop taking care of the places perhaps would not cause serious problems for now to the environment. The thinning and mowing have been completed in the area thanks to these 20 years of the tax base. But, then, is there a reliable prospect for another policy when the time comes and the forests need help again? I don’t say there is nothing in store for the policies of the Prefectural government … I’m now collecting information which includes interesting projects with top-notch technologies. I’m also hearing the stories when the frozen approach to the forests causes problems. I’ll tell you these when they are ready. Meanwhile, in 2026 we’re starting the new era for our neighborhood forests.

If you find environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with

Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation Center

神奈川県自然環境保全センター

657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121　厚木市七沢657

 

Phone: 046-248-0323

You can send an enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at 

http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/

Time Goes By: our neighbourhood forests and humans, 2026

Well, 2026 has begun. I’ve been posting this blog for quite some time. Inevitably, there are changes in the forests. As in the forest of Tsukuba (: my post on December 21, 2025), the forests themselves transform at their own pace, which could be obvious after 40 years. My posts are not that old yet. Unless some huge havoc occurs, like mega typhoon or bulldozing for shopping centres, forests take their time in a slow, steady, and calmful way for transformation. In contrast, changes in humans are much faster.

For one thing, when I started this series in 2015, the main keepers of, say, Niiharu Citizen Forest were retired 60 or 70 somethings. In Japanese demography, this cohort is the typical baby boomers born by 1949 – 1950. They spent their prime days as a locomotive of Japanese economic development without experiencing starvation as their predecessors during war years. In 2015, they have been healthy grandpas and grandmas with stamina and money of generous pension. In addition, they are MANY. In this country of rapidly shrinking population, they are still the most numerous people contributing to the upside-down pyramid of demography. The management system of suburban forests in Megalopolis Tokyo utilized such very distinctive generation. It means, they are more than 75 years old in 2025. Even those mighty seniors are now “75 years old and up,” and often too old to operate chainsaws for 3 hours.

Yet, we’re fine. Thank you.

Moreover, in 2026, 65 years olds are not as those baby boomers. Their prime age was spent during the lost 30 or so years of deflation. New retirees do not expect luxurious pension. Those mandarins for public pension system seriously talk about a “life without retirement: please keep on working until 100 years old.” It’s difficult expecting the same kind of dedication to neighbouring forests from them as those grandpas in 2015.

Even though we’re doing our best.

Yeah. Grandpas and grandmas are still going strong for forest management in Yokohama and Kanagawa. But, death notices are to some extent regular announcement these days for morning assembly of Lovers Associations in Citizen Forest. Forestry sessions we forest instructors support in Kanagawa’s forest welcomes veterans whose average age is 75+. The amount of job gets done in a day is decreasing. The donation to Kanagawa Green Trust from non-corporate entities (i.e. often senior individuals) has nearly halved compared with the amount for 2015. Then, during the last mayoral election in August 2025, two candidates (Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Koyama) ran for office with the agenda to abolish Yokohama’s Green Tax and to shrink municipal projects for greenery, including the system of Citizen Forest. They lost the election but gathered 23% of votes. The incident becomes a wake-up call. Many people involved in Yokohama’s greenery are getting alarmed.

Actually, for more than 20 years the City Office for Yokohama has asked research firms to conduct opinion polls concerning City’s greenery. (The latest result is from here.) Interestingly, the result has not changed for at least 20 years. Everybody thinks maintaining greenery is important to keep the city’s environment nice. But those who actually act for the forests or city gardens are mainly 55 years or up. The majority of such people is 60 to 70 somethings. On the other hand, those who bear the large portion of city tax are working population, i.e. 30 to 40 somethings with kids in schools. The cohort has been answering healthy natural environment in neighbourhood is important for their family life, but “we don’t know what the city office is practically doing for this.” i.e. They do not know Yokohama Green Up Plan for environmental management (; my post for January 26, 2016). But they are contributing to a large share of Green Tax income without knowing the purpose of it. And there is materializing, rather urgently, a serious problem of aging population for greenery management in Yokohama.

Telling you the truth, the awareness of the issue has been shared within the committee members for Yokohama Midori-up (Green-Up) Plan Citizen’s Promotion Council. The former council members recapitulated the problem in their report, and left homework for the next members of the Council to tackle the issue, i.e. do something for public relation to Yokohama’s environment plan. True, Yokohama needs more money for school meals, nursery schools, medical systems, etc. etc. But it’s a different matter nullifying the Green Up Plan and its tax base for covering the cost of another issues. Yokohama’s plan is really unique in Japan for managing the greenery of our city and has been run well for the wellbeing of citizens since 2008. Two years ago, the people of the City Office for Osaka came to see how Yokohama was doing with the Green-Up Plan, and said “Wow, Yokohama is serious for the issue, isn’t it?” Oh yeah. But how to communicate with the people about this important issue? Those parenting generation is more and more familiar with SNS and short messages but not at all with the bureaucratic annual reports, aren’t they?

Anyway, the Council and the City launched last August the official page for Yokohama Midori-Up Action and hopes the information cycle of the forest to the people becomes shorter, more adjusted to busy parents. We’ll see if it is an effective tool for the child-rearing generation to be aware of Yokohama’s environmental policies. I personally think we should be proud of ourselves having a healthy community where some politicians can run for the office peacefully on the platform of controversial issue. But it would be definitely better to have discussions while sharing widely the reliable information about the topic regardless of the political stance. Difficult …

If you have any questions about Yokohama’s Green Tax and Green Up Plan, please make a contact with

Strategic Planning Division, Green Environment Bureau, City of Yokohama
横浜市みどり環境局戦略企画課

Phone: 045-671-2712
FAX: 045-550-4093

Email: mk-kikaku@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Season’s Greetings

 

Please enjoy your happy holiday!

Love,

Naomi😄

What the Next Generation May See in 40 years’ time: Tsukuba Expo Forest つくば万博の森

 

Last week was for kids who’ll be adults in 20 years’ time. What would happen for the forests when they are in their 60s? This week, I tell you about my adventure in a forest that was a bald mountain in 1985, 40 years ago. The forest is not in Kanagawa Prefecture, but in Ibaraki Prefecture 茨城県. A bit far for this blog. But the forest has a unique character. It has a detailed record of its transition from an exposed range to a greenery. To guess the forests those kids in the YNU would have, this forest in Ibaraki can be a good baseline. The name of the place is Tsukuba Expo Forest つくば万博の森 of 9.87 ha state-owned land. Let’s go there near (?) University of Tsukuba.

The area spreads over the slopes of Mt. Hokyo 宝篋山 (ASL 461 m) in the south of Mt. Tsukuba (ASL 877m) 筑波山. It was a neglected Satoyama backyard. During the 1970s and the 1980s, the pine trees once covered the mountain were ravaged by pine wilt nematode. Imagine you enter a forest of dead or dying trees with sporadic other species escaping from the disease. Not many people enjoyed the stroll, I presume. In addition, the profitability of forestry from the area were nearing to zero: a typical story for Japanese forestry with no competitiveness after 1964 log-import liberalization. Then in 1985 the International Exposition was held in Tsukuba City. The theme of the fete was “Dwellings and Surroundings - Science and Technology for Man at Home.” Looking northeast from the festival site was Mt. Tsukuba and neglected Mt. Hokyo. Oh, by the way, unlike Kanagawa or Yokohama, Ibaraki Prefecture is mainly a flat land with the second largest lake, Kasumigaura 霞ヶ浦, for Japan. From the Expo venue, the drab slopes of Mt. Hokyo must have been seen clearly. I think people at that time felt embarrassed. The Asahi Shinbun Co. launched a fund-raising campaign to reforest the area. They established Forest Culture Association 森林文化協会 to manage the donation and to talk with Forestry Agency of Japan. In 1985, they contracted with the Japanese government, i.e. the landlord, for 60 years forestry in the area.

We’ve been there from Asahi Pass carparking.
From the site to the south,
we can observe a wide expanse of Ibaraki,
including Kasumigaura.

I don’t know if they had a clear scientific idea at that time for reconstruction of Satoyama forest. … I noticed these days the idea of “Satoyama” based on a solid scientific discussion is rather new, sort of 21st century approach. (More to it next year.) In any case, what the Forest Culture Association did was clearing the dead pines, conditioning the earth, and planting seedlings mainly of Japanese cypress and some of broad-leaved trees. I suspect they introduced the baby trees from the other areas, i.e. disturbed the gene pool of the original Mt. Hokyo. Whether it was a proper approach could be a topic of ideological debate for nature conservation, but one thing is sure. The sorry state of the Mt. Hokyo is successfully reconstructed 40 years later with healthy trees. For achieving 30by30 Goal, Ministry of Environment of Japan started in 2023 the registration project for Nationally Certified Sustainably Managed Natural Sites. For obtaining certification, the Office sets conditions requiring considerable efforts and money for the people taking care of their forest. Tsukuba Expo Forest has a backer, Asahi Shinbun Co. that can provide money and connections to experts for researching the site. The army of biologists studied the area aiming for the registration. They found lots of fauna and flora which call the Expo Forest home … more than 20 species of birds for both summer and winter, roughly 60 species of insects, 8 species of mammals, and more than 300 species of flora ... In 2024, the Tsukuba Expo Forest obtained the national certification as a place of rich biodiversity.

The forestry effort by the Forest Culture Association continues. They mow the forest floor, prune and thin the trees, and research the area. In early November this year, there was a small celebration in the Expo Forest for commemorating the 40th anniversary of the project. I had a chance to attend the occasion. The people of the Association together with the researchers for natural museums in Ibaraki Prefecture guided us to stroll the restored forest. There was no trace for the damage from pine wilt. The slope of Mt. Hokyo was covered by hinoki cypress of 50cm or so diameter. The people from the Association said they shipped the logs harvested from thinned cypress to the market. I’m sure logging in the nationally owned Expo Forest is not at all profitable, BUT, the forest has recovered to the level they can provide a product to the log market. Thinking their beginning as a forest of dead pine trees, this is something.

A healthy forest now

The choice of trees for afforestation was,
I think, very for the 20^th century Japan …
If we do a similar project in 2025,
I think we will not choose hinoki cypresses,
but the other broad-leaved trees.
For Satoyama restoration in Ibaraki Prefecture
 which is famous for its temperate climate,
 the trees would be deciduous …
 Anyway, Hinoki was the best choice 40 years ago.
That would be a tricky point for landscape restoration.
It takes VERY VERY long time to see the result.

Even though, it has an enviable forest floor
 with many kinds of plants.
In Tanzawa for Kanagawa Prefecture,
deer eat up almost anything and
only limited species hated by the animal cover the forest floor.

From a point on the slope,
we can observe Mt. Fuji far away …

The highest ridge of the forest is a cleared open space surrounded by azaleas and Japanese maples, probably situated as such by landscapers. There is a monument with the engraved names of donors who contributed to the original afforestation effort. Inevitably, this is the area where the number of visitors is the largest, and hence we can find some invasive vegetation like Broomsadge bluestem. But, the researchers said, out of 313 flora species verified in the forest, only 22 species were invasive, which was a signal for a well-maintained environment. There remain 20 more years for the contract the Forest Culture Association has with the government. We’ll see how the place evolves from here. At this moment we can tell the kids we met at YNU that this properly taken-care-of forest will be a nice place for their retirement party. It could be good news, as long as we keep looking after the forest. Not bad, don’t you think?

The memorial on the ridge

Er, so I should tell you how to go there. Actually, it is rather tricky. The best route would be hiking to the peak of Mt. Hokyo. It’s a popular destination for one-whole-day hike. The Expo Forest spreads the north slopes immediately to the peak. i.e. It takes 2-3 hours’ climbing from any entrance to the hiking routes for Mt. Hokyo. … To any beginning of the trekking route, we take a bus from TX Tsukuba Station for about an hour, or from JR Tsuchiura Station for about half an hour. Me? We took an extreme shortcut by using microbus thanks to Asahi Shinbun Co. They brought us to the point where the monument is in about an hour walk in a relatively easy strolling path. Our shortcut was for permit holders only … sorry. But thanks to such remoteness, the local biodiversity is preserved to the level of national registration, so the researchers say. Hm, OK. Maybe we have to add one more thing for our encouragement to the kids. Yeah, we do our best to care the natural treasure for you, but the nice place may not be so easy to go for your retirement party in the end. *Sigh*

There was this sign showing the way
to the peak of Mt. Hokyo and the Expor Forest.

Our easy way

TX Tsukuba Station

If you have any questions about Tsukuba Expo Forest, please make a contact with

The Forest Culture Association @ Asahi Shinbun Co.
Phone: 03-5540-7686 

https://www.shinrinbunka.com/

Next Generation: School of Forest ＠ Yokohama National University

 

ESD. Some of you may ask “What?” There are several technical terms which use this acronym. This week our adventure is with an acronym for Education for Sustainable Development. As the homepage for UNESCO says here, it’s a movement for educating kids and adults to tackle problems stemming from climate change. Climate causes economic and social problems, so talking about global poverty is also an important topic for ESD. But in Japan, the curriculum for ESD employed by schools is mainly for environmental issues connecting to SDGs goals for 13 (Climate Action), 14 (Life below Water), and 15 (Life on Land) … er, well, it would be a symbolic phenomenon to describe Japanese society in 2025 … Anyway, teachers and, to be exact for this week’s post, trainees who plan to be teachers are educating themselves / ourselves for the way to communicate the environmental issues with kids. Especially for urban pre-schoolers and 1st – 2nd graders who are not familiar with the natural environment, educators employ nature games. Recently, I happened to have a chance to attend an actual session for nature games designed and carried out by college students for Yokohama National University (YNU). I tell you. It was a FUN!

A workshop for YNU art class

In this post-COVID environments, the young attitude for environmental issues is more serious than that of, say, octogenarians. Grandpas and grandmas will perish sooner or later before seeing the consequences of global warming. But 20 somethings will be 40 somethings in 20 years’ time when the average temperature for August in Tokyo could be more than 40C°. College students must worry and honestly act to increase the number of collaborators to tackle the problem. These days there are lots of young people in campus to think and discuss the topic. They also form voluntary groups to act upon their discussion to stop a possible catastrophe, even if it may be a tiny act of tending downtown gardens that may contribute to the mitigation of “heat islands.” Also the classes for the topic are popular. Faculties for environmental studies are receiving lots of applications from highschoolers. Those YNU students who devised the nature games study at Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences. Many are planning to be science teachers after graduation. They call themselves YNU Satoyama ESD Base. They are serious about creating fun ESD programmes.

The YNU students wore a red uniform jacket
during the session.

About 20 years ago, the president for YNU was the chairperson for Japan Association on the Environmental Studies. He ordered the entire campus “Never cut down the tree.” Many members of the community murmured complaints for their campus approaching to a temperate jungle. But now, the premise is an amalgam of research buildings, classrooms and deep forest. It makes the place ideal for nature games to kids. In one weekend for the end of this fall, the college students of Satoyama ESD Base held a “School of Forest” inviting to their campus about 30 pre and grade schoolers with their parents. They are having such sessions several times in a year. They are secretly popular events among families in Yokohama. The possible number of attendees is limited, and a lottery is held every time. One mum told me her daughter applied 3 times to the session and reached BINGO for the third time. Many attendees are joining the fun as an entire family, meandering a jungle-like forest of YNU. This fall’s main program had two menus. One is “Let’s create Forest Mask!” Another is “Let’s unleash your inner penmanship with bamboo brush.”

Inside the campus.
Art students installed their work there.

 In addition to the sessions, there were several games
kids could play whenever they wanted.

They also presented panels explaining SDGs and
Japanese traditional Satoyama life
for environmental sustainability.

To make forest masks, kids entered roughly 50m*50m area of YNU jungle and gathered materials like fallen leaves, autumn fruits, snail shells, feathers of some birds, etc. etc. The kids then returned to a workshop, pasted their catch on a strip of craft paper, and connected both sides of a strip with a rubber band. Voilà! Your forest mask was done! It seemed to me all preschoolers found themselves in a totally unfamiliar place, i.e. a forest. Yet, they ran around, and sometimes fell down on, the unpaved mountain(-like) area covered with fallen leaves and the other debris of autumn forest. YNU students were watching the adventure of tiny kids to secure the safety but left the attendees for their adventure to find catches. What the kids brought from the forest differed greatly although they were searching in a same area. When they pasted their catch to the craft paper, they became tiny artists to make their mask cool. During the entire session, the children were carefree with shining smile. With their laughing kids, parents looked very happy as well. There was nothing elaborate for crafting the mask, but surely kids enjoyed the nature.

The catch

Thinking what to put next …

The craft paper attached with a rubber band …

Then, connected to another end.

This certainly was THE presentation.

Another program was to make bamboo brush and to calligraph with it. The way to make a brush is simple. You harvest a bamboo on the day of making brushes. Cut them to a suitable length for making calligraphy, then peel the skin of it at its edge long enough for a brush. Next, pound the peeled part with a mallet until the solid trunk of a bamboo becomes a bunch of fibre. The freshly cut bamboo contains water so that it is easier for squashing the trunk for a brush. Voilà! Your forest brush is ready! Next you write down whatever you want to on a sheet of Hanshi-paper. Your presentation will join the larger mural of calligraphy. Finally, please go to a white banner and write down anything you want on the banner with your bamboo brush. Your writing becomes a part of “Manifest” of today! Many first graders who started their Japanese calligraphy class in their school wrote down a word of their choice. Some googled in their parents’ smart phones to write down a difficult names of Anime characters, like Agatsuma Zen’itsu 我妻善逸 of the Damon Slayer 鬼滅の刃. (Why not Kocho Shinobu 胡蝶しのぶ? Hers is Hiragana!) The kids were enjoying the occasion for writing graffiti-like presentations on a very large canvas. They again showed their own originality with twinkling eyes. The program was to experience the relation between the forest and human daily life, in a very creative way. I was impressed.

The bamboo sticks with the skinned tips,
prepared by college students early this morning.

Pounding

An example. This was created last spring. 

This is impressive.

A dud also tried enthusiastically.

Manifest!

For kids in urban area like Yokohama, it is not common to enjoy forest even if Citizen Forests of the City is in their backyard (; more to it next year). Such events to play in a forest with college students must be a thrilling and fun adventure for them. I was also fascinated by the enthusiasm of students who not only leaded preschoolers for their fun but also enjoyed the program they devised in their campus. I hope such experience sticks to their memory for a long time and helped their life in a boiling planet. Theirs should be long, for tens of years to come. Long live the New Generation. Oh, one more thing. I think those college students are bilingual. If you’re living in Yokohama and want to bring your kids to School of Forest, please check their home page for the latest information. Caution: it’s a highly competitive ticket.

If you have any questions about Yokohama’s Green Tax and Green Up Plan, please make a contact with

Strategic Planning Division, Green Environment Bureau, City of Yokohama
横浜市みどり環境局戦略企画課

Phone: 045-671-2712
FAX: 045-550-4093 

Email: mk-kikaku@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Sleep well … Making eye pillow with Chrysanthemum

 

Ah, December … the atmosphere of the town is busy, busy, jolly … And in Kanto Region, the weather continues to be more or less fine and VERY dry. The area around Tokyo is geologically demarcated by ASL 1500+m mountains from the rest of Japan. Riding the westerly winds, the cold and wet atmosphere from the north and west discard their moisture in these mountains as snow. Then their dry winds blow down to the cities. Dry skin is a huge problem for everyone even if a person is not so keen about cosmetics. Not only that, some people, like me, have exasperated problem of dry eyes. Yeah, I know the best prescription would be to lesson the online time per day. I know, I know, I know …

My collection of eye drops, prescription version

So, in this time of the year, I carefully control my time with contact lenses and invest in the bottles of eye drops for symptomatic treatment. Recently, I’ve added another approach to the issue. Using eye pillows. These days there are several products we can find in drug stores. In addition, I learned chrysanthemum can help. It’s an application of Potpourri.

Store-bought version of eye pillows.
It has a lavender aroma.

My dear eye pillow

Chrysanthemum of several kinds are in the ingredient list for traditional Chinese medicine. Professionally compounded one could be taken orally, and good to alleviate the tiredness of eyes. I’m not a pharmacist, so I decided to take a safer option. How to is simple. I deadhead the mum flowers, dry them, then stuff them in a cloth pochette large enough to cover the eyes. I’m still in the drying stage, but the flowers already emit that characteristic aroma of chrysanthemum. … I’m day-dreaming winter hibernation …

Drying

If you have any questions about Yokohama’s Green Tax and Green Up Plan, please make a contact with

Strategic Planning Division, Green Environment Bureau, City of Yokohama
横浜市みどり環境局戦略企画課
Phone: 045-671-2712
FAX: 045-550-4093 

Email: mk-kikaku@city.yokohama.lg.jp