By Thick and Thin (October 2025)

As the Japanese logging industries in Hokkaido and Wakayama work to find balance between preserving natural ecosystems, sustainably managing forests, and meeting wood demand, their rural scenery takes on ever evolving edges. Clearcut logging, managed woodland, and slow regeneration appear to splinter through the thick spread of old growth forests. This project serves to document a brief moment in time among the continued rise and fall of these woodland canopies.

Having never thought about the Japanese logging industry before, I arrived in Japan with no intention of making these images. However, as I backpacked through Hokkaido and Wakayama, these altered landscapes captivated my attention. I hadn’t seen forestry on this scale and despite being nearly half way around the world from my home, I came to realize that there was actually a chance that I had come in contact with fragments of these forests before. Maybe in the form of an Oak chair, Sakhalin Fir paper, or a Hinoki cutting board. After all, Japan does export more than 400 million USD worth of wood products each year*, a tenth of which head to the US.

Perhaps my bedroom door did not grow in these forests, but if not here then where?

*According to 2023 reporting