THE URBAN FOREST OF TOKYO

Abstract

Summary The urban forest of the Tokyo metropolitan area was examined through the review of agencies' reports, academic publications, discussions with urban forest managers, and a reconnaissance of urban vegetation in Tokyo. This analysis showed the Tokyo metropolitan area has 420,564 street trees planted along 2,712 km of streets and about 1.5 million trees occur in 4,177 ha of urban parks in Tokyo. Some 14 per cent of the urbanized portion of the Tokyo metropolitan area is in tree or other types of urban vegetation cover. Commonly observed street and park trees include ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.), oriental plane (Platanus orientalis L.), trident maple (Acer buergerianum Miq.), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.), yoshino cherry (Prunus yedoensis Matsum.), Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata Makino), Japanese pagoda tree (Sophora japonica L.), camphor trees (Cinnamomum camphora Sieb.), Japanese tanoak (Lithocarpus edulis Nakai) and Japanese wax myrtle (Myrica rubra Sieb. et Zucc.). The Japan Greenery Research and Development Center Foundation, established in 1973, has provided valuable leadership to the overall management of the urban forest in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The current recession in Japan is having a serious impact on budgets for the establishment and management of trees in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Curtailments in annual street tree planting, pruning, and inventories are being considered to meet the budget crisis.