To Environment Minister Masaharu Nakagawa,
One surprising thing about Japan, given that its people are said to have a deep love and respect for nature, is that there appears to be little thought given to some basic environmental issues in this country. The example I would like to focus on here: When new houses are constructed, all the trees that were growing on the site are usually knocked down!
When houses are demolished, there is a very bad habit here of cutting down all the trees in the former garden, leaving the ground 90-100 percent cleared and empty, ready for new construction. This seems to happen as a matter of course, in almost all cases, even when the trees in the garden are very old.