Mineo Kogenji, a 79-year-old retired honey farmer, has been endeavoring to plant trees across Japan to increase the amount of forests suitable for apiculture, or beekeeping.
For nearly half a century, Kogenji has cultivated bees by traveling with them south to north each spring, witnessing the threats posed to apiculture by changing weather patterns, shrinking forests, and social and political changes caused by events like war.
"I want to plant as many trees as possible so beekeeping will continue in the future," the native of Miyoshi, Hiroshima Prefecture, said.