Update: 2026 Laboratory of Forest Art

 

CHIKADA Haruna

A week later for the originally planned opening party, the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods held an opening party + art tour by the artists. This week I tell you about the artist’s comment for their own work. (The original note shown at each installation is my post for September 20).

1. encounter
ISHIKURO Kazuo

Ishikuro-san said originally he does not want to demolish his tower man for Hadano after their show, and decided to make him/her a neighbor of another tower man in the forest for the GROUP. He then found some forest story that goes on with the new situation. Could you feel that?

2. A Boat Made of White Oak Branches
KANAI Toshikazu

After working in this forest for years, Kanai-san said he became more familiar to the creatures in the forest, like that magnolia tree next to his boat, or the snakes gathering in a sunny open space created by his thinning to make room for another boat. His work becomes more and more the 21st century version of Noah’s Arc.

3. Where the Gaze Is Directed
CHIKADA Haruna

Chikada-san has changed her tack this year for her installation by not-using BB bullets. But she said in any way she did not want to shout loud about environmental destruction by survival gamers. She said she always wanted to nudge the spectators to move the point of view from a familiar “me” to that of the entire environment. For that, mirror is a useful tool. In this year’s installation, mirrors reflect the canopy of the forest above AND you who look her work. Finding yourself on the surface of fallen tree, what would you think?

4. relationship like this in the cockpit.
ASADA

ASADA-san plans to add another crew next year for the cockpit of spaceship earth. For more detail of this growing population of spaceship, please check the movie from the QR code below.

5. Here
YOSHIKAWA Youichiro

According to Yoshikawa-san, to retrieve the feature of “ownerless garden” of dwarf lilyturfs it took almost a month of weeding sasa bamboos and brackens. In addition, several cherry trees surrounding his “garden” fell during these several months. He speculated the aging of the forest was rapidly progressing. His toil for maintaining “ownerless garden” itself is becoming more and more a creative process in a fast-moving environment. Let us see how the things turn out …

6. Layer 2209 or 2232
KIGA Youko

2209 and 2232 are frequency these wind chimes emit. For Kiga-san using the space in this forest is very free. Her creativity can fly without enclosing walls. Her intention was about the free “space” in the forest, but I noticed the sound of chimes can waft out from the forest to the commuter road running along the forest. Her chimes are expanding beyond the forest.

7. BOND+ (connecting logs +)
HARADA Akatsuki

Harada-san noticed by working this project for several years by now, the originally “all-sturdy” log structure has begun to show variegated development regarding its decay. Some parts have so-so puffy logs, while another part is forever solid. He situated on the top of the structure the twigs harvested from the forest, painted them white and connected them together. It looks like people holding hands and support the entire building even if a part of it is decaying. That’s a sort of symbolism for something …

8. Pergola Gallery

When the GROUP started 20 years ago, the members of the secretariat were art lovers who responded to the help-wanted appeal for art show in a forest. Many already had created their art works, if not professionally. Since then, they contributed to the show little by little that left their installations in the forest as the artists for the annual show. Some brought in the works made by users of special needs center in Yokohama. The others created the installations with kids from local after-school childcare centers. And the other found the thinned oaks by the artists attractive to make his own art work in the forest. This part of the forest is for the secretariat people. I found the Gallery is full of fun! Please enjoy.

The closing for this year’s show is on October 18. There again will be an Art Tour from 11:00. After the bento-lunch (RSVP from email below), they will have a concert by Thomassons + Akaciq in the forest. For both parties, you can bring your own lunch. It is free of charge just for attending the parties. There will be a small “Marche” on the closing day to raise funds for their activity. In addition, on October 4th from 11:00 they specially arrange an Art Tour for kids and their guardians. This event has a limited seat for 10 kids and it will cost 500 yen per kid (for insurance charge). RSVP.

2026 the Laboratory of Forest Art is held during September 20 – October 18 in the same forest of the previous years. Since there is no parking, a recommended access to the Forest is by bus. The most convenient transportation is a bus ride to Yokohama Zoorasia, from JR Nakayama 中山 Station, Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station, or Sotetsu Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station. Get off the bus at the North Gate of Zoorasia that is the closest to the art exhibition entrance. When you leave the terminal stop of Zoorasia North Gate, go back a bit along the bus road, and on your left is the sign for the GROUP. From there enter the forest. The road is a relatively wide walking promenade. Soon you can see a big banner over there saying “the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声.”

When you find a problem in the site introduced in this post, the best contact address will be GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods.

https://morilab.amebaownd.com/
e-mail: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp

The city office which is in charge of this forest is

Zoo Division 動物園課
Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau 横浜市みどり創造局

Phone: 045-671-4124
FAX：045-550-4650
email: mk-satoyama-garden@city.yokohama.jp

In Search for Lost Crickets: endangered Euscyrtus japonicus

 

Euscyrtus japonicus is in the family of Gryllidae, aka crickets. It’s tiny. It has 1-1.2cm of body length. Its legs are very slender. Their wings are not sturdy enough to fly around. So, they are not good at moving. It doesn't sing, although it’s a cricket. Probably the most prominent feature of the bug is female ovipositor, the organ to lay eggs, which has almost the same length as its body. Otherwise, it’s low-key. Having said that, it’s picky for its meal. Its diet comes only from long leaves of grass families. They are not good at exploring new worlds for food with their weak wings and legs. When they have home, they make a large colony in the same bush of grass with their fellow crickets.

People from Yokohama Environmental Science Research Institute, a watch dog in charge of environmental pollution in the city, have found the bug VERY rare in the city. For that matter, in the entire Kanagawa Prefecture, meeting them is getting rarer and rarer. In the recent Red List for insects and spiders in Kanagawa (my post on September 6, 2026), they are categorized as VU = vulnerable. It’s same in Tokyo, Saitama, and Chiba. All of these prefectures including Kanagawa give Euscyrtus Japonicus the endangered status. There were lots of bitten leaves, for sure. But. Some had bite marks at its tip. The others were eaten from its edge. Unfortunately, no leaves with holes only in the middle.

Instead of crickets,
brown winged planthopper
(Pochazia shantungensis)
 is ubiquitous these days
in grass of Yokohama …
They are registered
“invasive species
that harm orchards”
 by the Plant Protection Section of
Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.

Er, well, it sounds demanding but at least around Yokohama, it seems to me grasses are abundant so the insect may not have hard times for survival. I decided to do a mini search for them in the wide expanse of grass family along the bank of Tsurumi River. The bugs leave very characteristic feeding signs if they are there. They eat only the middle of slender leaves of grass. They avoid apex, margin, and of course midvein. After their meal, the grass leaves have lots of elongated holes in both sides of midvein. Since they live en masse, the leaves of their grass “town” are supposed to have lots of holes. It must be easy to find them ... Result? Nah.

It seems to me
there are lots of meal here for the crickets.

This young Patanga japonica
has surely different table manners
 from Euscyrtus japonicus.

I simply wondered. Why? With such a lot of leaves, the cricket must be able to eat a lot. One speculation could be their be-loved field of grass which can undergo frequent disturbances in big cities of boiling planet. Take the bank of Tsurumi River. Thanks to this changing climate, sudden torrential rain over our concreted neighborhood pours water directly into the River. The grass on the bank will be inundated at once. Even if the flood is for a very short period of time, it’s enough for tiny crickets to be washed over, and extinct. Or flood control constructions. The bank receives heavy mowing at least once a year to stop overflowing into human area. Yeah, grass will come back soon but meanwhile what to eat for these picky crickets?

It’s a hard life for this inconspicuous insect. What will happen to them? I decided to search for holes when there is abundant grass in our neighborhood. The scenery looked familiar and permanent. But from Euscyrtus japonicus’ point of view, it’s turbulent surroundings. I recalled the quiet fury of these bugs’ nerds in the symposium. “Beautifully conserved nature? Look, who’s talking!?”

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/

Rain … for 2026 Laboratory of Forest Art

 

I secretly doubt Mr. Ishiyama, the coordinator for the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods, is a rainmaker. 2026 Laboratory of Forest Art was supposed to have an opening party on September 20, 2026 (i.e. today). From 19th or so, Typhoon Dujuan has begun bringing Yokohama rain and wind in honest. The estimate almost hourly changes the speed of the storm. Now forecasters say the heaviest rain will come Yokohama tomorrow evening. Yet, it is already raining heavily now. Inevitably the opening party was postponed for next week. Still, artists have installed their work in the forest. So, today I will tell you this years’ Forest Lab installations. At the entrance, the group gives us a reference map to visit artworks. I proceed according to the numbers they allocate each. The title of this year’s show is “Forest, From Now.”

1. encounter

ISHIKURO Kazuo

“A tower man born last year here have met another tower man born in Hadano this May. The same work would look different according to the place and the way for them to be shown. This year please be a tower man with both guys.”

2. A Boat Made of White Oak Branches

KANAI Toshikazu

“For these six years, I’m caring a seedling of Magnolia obovate here. I was concerned with a white oak standing next to the baby Magnolia that would take over the place instead of my tree. This year I cut the oak. In the end managing forest means whatever we do with our egotism. I cleared logs and branches with guilty feelings and resignation. Then, suddenly I noticed suckers were already coming from the stump of fell-down tree. When we clear the forest and let the sunlight come in, izzards visit the place for warming up. New plants will shoot up after the oak. The Boat here may already be Noah’s Ark.”

Below, Kanai-san’s last years installation. Together, they started to form a fleet of Noah’s Ark.

3. Where the Gaze Is Directed

CHIKADA Haruna

“I thought I was looking. I realize I did not look.

I thought I was looking this way. You say you look the same thing in another way.

In the forest, surely it would.”

This year Chikada-san takes another approach to the forest. She has not used BBs. She collected them from the forest floor and quietly fumed survival gamers polluting the forest with tiny plastic garbage. She said this year the feeling is not much since the level of new pollution is subsided. Yet … By the way, here work will be completed when the blue cover over each panel is removed and the trunk is covered by flexible mirror. I think she will finish her work after the typhoon is gone.

4. relationship like this in the cockpit.

ASADA

“Last year, a meandering creature reached the cockpit in the forest and realized it is a member of the starship Earth. It took a rest here in the cockpit. This year another creature arrived the cockpit, and they begin new relationship. It is an eternal cycle of birth, mate, feel, think, and decay. It is the energy to move Earth.

The movie version of the story can be seen from here.

5. Here

YOSHIKAWA Youichiro

“In 2017, I made here a large circle and snakely strolling path by replanting mondo grasses from another places in the forest. A year passes from my previous “gardening”, and all the work are covered by sasa-bamboos and ferns. This year, I’ve again done my “gardening” by mowing the covers to make the mondo grasses reappear. I feel happy as I am digging up my last year’s work painted on earth. This year, I build a mark to point my creation.”

Yoshikawa-san is retrieving last year’s work. He said several large trees, including Cerasus jamasakura, surrounding his “garden” fell and the spread of sasa-bamboos are phenomenal this year. To recover the last year’s design of his “garden” he commuted the forest for days. This year’s wheel is heavier, it seems to me. Please try.

6. Layer 2209 or 2232

KIGA Youko

“Standing here, have you heard wind chimes?

Mother nature let the song come out.

It’s beyond our control.

If you can hear it now, you’re lucky.

Otherwise, that’s that.

Fickle and blind.

7. BOND+ (connecting logs +)

HARADA Akatsuki

“Heartwood of thinned trees from the forest was sturdy. Since 2023, I’m connecting these logs with iron-reinforcing bars. Bars are clamps, aka bonds. I hooked up the heartwoods with bonds and built up a circle structure. The work becomes very robust. This year, I added future form of us on top of the construction.”

8. We Made this Pergola Gallery Together

This part of the show is created by coordinating members of the Group, local kids, and the people from the nearby institution for people of intellectual disabilities. Many authors here are amateurs and simply enjoy the creation. It was fun to immerse myself in such environment!

They postponed the opening party for September 27, starting 11:00 AM with “Art Tour” guided by the artists. After roughly 1.5 hours of slow walk in the forest, there will be lunch and art discussion with the artists. If you like to share bento-lunch with them, please email

morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp

to reserve the purchase of bento. English email is OK. The closing is on October 18. There again will be an Art Tour from 11:00. After the bento-lunch (RSVP), they will have a concert by Thomassons + Akaciq in the forest. For both parties, you can bring your own lunch. It is free of charge just for attending the parties. There will be a small “marche” on these party days to raise funds for their activity. In addition, on October 4th from 11:00 they specially arrange an Art Tour for kids and their guardians. This event has a limited seat for 10 kids and it will cost 500 yen per kid (for insurance charge). RSVP.

2026 the Laboratory of Forest Art is held during September 20 – October 18 in the same forest of the previous years. Since there is no parking, a recommended access to the Forest is by bus. The most convenient transportation is a bus ride to Yokohama Zoorasia, from JR Nakayama 中山 Station, Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station, or Sotetsu Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station. Get off the bus at the North Gate of Zoorasia that is the closest to the art exhibition entrance. When you leave the terminal stop of Zoorasia North Gate, go back a bit along the bus road, and on your left is the sign for the GROUP. From there enter the forest. The road is a relatively wide walking promenade. Soon you can see a big banner over there saying “the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声.”

When you find a problem in the site introduced in this post, the best contact address will be GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods.

https://morilab.amebaownd.com/

e-mail: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp

The city office which is in charge of this forest is

Zoo Division
動物園課
Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau
横浜市みどり創造局

Phone: 045-671-4124
FAX：045-550-4650

email: mk-satoyama-garden@city.yokohama.jp

Extinctions ctd: Red List for Fungi?

 

Bugs are living in the middle stairs of ecological pyramid. They are eating vegetables, or the other animals, right? In the pyramid, plants are situated one step lower than the insects et al, but not in the bottom. For all the living creatures from the vegetables and the above in the pyramid, it is relatively easy to “count.” One mosquito is counted one. One tulip is tallied one. One dog is one dog. When we think a creature is endangered, it means probability-wise the generational continuation would be extremely tricky for them because the counting says they have few populations. IUCN set the detailed criteria to define conservation status of living things based on “counting.” Even corals, a tiny polyp individually, are counted mainly in the number of colonies. Any problem with this approach? Oh yes. Mushrooms, myxomycetes and bacteria have problems in counting.

Plants survive on sufficient supply of nutrients processed by underground fungi et al. Roots of plants cannot take complex organic materials directly from the soil. Fungi decompose organic things, and take nitrogen, phosphorus, and the other minerals out from the “organic fertilizer” in a form suckable for clumsy rootlets of plants. If fungi die out, so do the plants due to starvation. If the world of plants deteriorates, the bugs that depend on vegetable extinct, as the bugs nerds lamented last week (; my post last week). The chain will soon reach us mammals ... In Niiharu, now Lovers are engaging in revitalization of Japanese alders. The standard approach we first take is clearing the sky for the trees, i.e. thinning (😊 easy). We think it would stimulate photosynthesis of established alders. We next need seedlings to grow. It is tricky. We realize Japanese alders, especially their seedlings, need specialized mycorrhizal fungi, i.e. Lactarius, Alpova, and Alnicola, underground for receiving nutrients. Er … do you know any way to make it sure these fungi are abundant there, without using moneyed laboratories with microscopes and lots of analytical reagents? Meanwhile the site of the alder trees is rapidly drying up now. It would make the life of underground fungi difficult. We may need some civil engineering work to let the water come in … Anyway, we cannot count underground organisms if they have enough population to conserve alders. It’s like proceeding in a VERY dark road.

The fruits of Gastrodia pubilabiata, a member of the orchid family.
It does not have chloroplast, and hence, depends completely on
 the nutrients provided by underground organism.
 Researchers found the orchid take mycelium of wood-decaying fungi
 in their “root” and digest the fungi completely with
 the disassembled elements from organic matter.
 Wood-decaying fungi are able to destroy cellulose, 
so the orchid would need
 sustenance procured lot from decomposed cellulose.
 Not only that, when they flower they emit rotting odors
 similar to fungi that could attract flies.
 The bugs come and put on pollens,  
then fly to another Gastrodia pubilabiata
to practically facilitate pollination.
i.e. The orchid depend on fungi
 not only for food but also child bearing.
 The story has additional conclusion.
 The flies lay eggs on the orchid thinking
 it is mushroom edible for their maggots.
 Alas, the cradle their baby find does not provide any food,
 and so they die before becoming adults. Terrifying orchid …

The valley Lovers of Niiharu
try to restore Japanese alders.
The place was once rice paddies,
but now rapidly drying.
 Don’t you think the vegetation in this photo
 does not show much difference from dry land?
Drier ground has underground world of fungi
 that love drier environment.
 Such condition may not good
 for the fungi that can help alders.

When we meet a mushroom in forest, we are delighted and say “Here! One mushroom!” Er, the way of counting this way is exact in one sense and completely missing the point from another. A mushroom, that with a cap and stem, is a fruiting body of fungi’s mass of mycelia spreading widely underground. The mycelium is individually so thin as to be measured by micrometers. Counting individual mycelium is unpractical, especially to determine if we have many of it, or not. As they are as such, it is very difficult to apply IUCN’s definition dependent on counting for determining the conservation status. Of course the issue has been known for some time (please see here or here). People are trying to mitigate the problem. The number of red listed fungi is slowly increasing. Still, we should have a sense of urgency, Prof. Nara Kazuhide for Tokyo University said in a seminar recently.

One mushroom, Marasmius pulcherripes
 … or is it?

Mushrooms in the family of Boletes.

Calvatia craniiformis.
At least, we have not heard it is nearing extinction.

In Japan and Asia, Prof. Nara has identified several plants that are for endangered list AND having troubles to procure enough Mycorrhizal fungi for their survival. These include rare species of pines and symbiotic truffles in Yakushima Island 屋久島 and Tanegegashima Island 種子島. To conserve such vegetables, we have to safeguard the underground world of these fungi that are often specialists for endangered plants. In other words, when mycorrhizals are endangered, so are the plants dependent on the fungi. Prof. Nara is a bit cynical for the current status of the thing. “Even how to define endangered status for fungi is facing problems when we try to apply the same counting approach. But we must establish the way rather sooner. Already the endangered fungi produce lots of endangered plants. There are many experts for endangered pandas, but people are ignorant of the fungi and smaller bacteria which are very basic to the entire ecosystem. We must be attentive.” Well. All nature nerds, being for bugs or for fungi, are reaching the same conclusion, it seems to me.

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/