Exploring forest aesthetics using forestry photo contests: case
studies examining Japanese and German public preferences
Ryo Kohsakaa,b,*, Michael Flitnerb
aLaboratory of Forest Policy, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi Bunkyo-ku, 113-8657 Tokyo, Japanb Institut fur Forstokonomie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Tennenbacherstr.4, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany
Abstract
In sustainable forest management (SFM), forestry organizations are required to communicate to the public effectively to
broaden the general understanding of their efforts in maintaining multiple forest service functions. Thus, there is a renewed
interest in the scientific study of the perception and representation of forests. Forestry photo contests provide valuable resources
to deepen the knowledge about ‘images’ that are shared in a larger public and obviously appealing to imaginations from the
perspective of laypeople. The paper aims at identifying such ‘icons’ through a new methodology that involved examining group
discussion dynamics based on using two sets of prize-winning pictures. The pictures were from Japanese and German photo
contests with the common theme of ‘forest/trees.’ Data were collected with different sets of forest pictures in both cultures.
Interviewees were asked to categorize the pictures into clusters through group discussions with a high degree of freedom. The
results show rather stable sets of pairs and clusters of certain pictures. What is being included in the prize-winning photos
differed largely between Japan and Germany, indicating separate discursive practices of forestry organizations in the two
cultures. In addition to these representational differences in ‘icons’, perception of German and Japanese groups differed in
certain themes.
D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Forest aesthetics; Group interview; Photo contest; Public relations; Japan; Germany
1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Forestry organizations both in Germany and Japan
are facing legitimacy crises, mainly resulting from
economic pressure. Forestry organizations emphasize
the benefit of public services from forests, such as
public recreation. Reflecting the post-productivist na-
ture of many rural areas, the raisons d’etre of forestry
practices have broadened from monetary values of
timber yields to more multi-functional values. For
example, Brunson and Reiter (1996) predicted that
many timber-dependent communities would depend
more on recreational business in the near future.
Consequently, the process of decision-making has
become more participatory and forestry organizations
are finding themselves confronted with increasing
demands for justification against heterogeneous argu-
ments from the public, government agencies and en-
vironmental organizations. In this issue, Wang (2004)
1389-9341/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2004.03.016
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-3-5841-5213; fax: +81-3-
5841-5437.
E-mail addresses: [email protected],
[email protected] (R. Kohsaka).
www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol
Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299
lists key characteristics of sustainable forest man-
agement (SFM), which include social accountability
and reflexivity with wider involvement of different
factors.
Since 2000, two international forestry organiza-
tions, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) and the International Union of
Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) have
launched task forces and networks on public relations,
respectively. These activities reflect the need for SFM
to be pursued not only within the forestry sector, but
also by communicating with the general public. This
need is especially obvious in Germany and Japan
where forestry organizations have often been labeled
as ‘economically backwards’ or even as ‘endangering
the environment’ (for the German context see Fig. 1
Scherzinger (1996), quoting Jedicke (1994, p. 14),
and reviews by Schmithusen et al. (1997), for Japan,
Knight (2000) titled ‘From Timber to Tourism’).
Conventionally, communication with the public has
been conducted in an ad hoc manner, in that the
systematic exploration of public preferences has hard-
ly been undertaken. Existing studies (see Section 1.2)
are largely based on the perception of different
silvicultural practices, such as ‘light-thinning’ vs.
‘clear-cutting’ and not on public forest images in a
broader context.
By providing pictures of forests in Japanese and
German (including–German-speaking Switzerland)
cultures to interviewees, this research aimed at
identifying contemporary ‘icons’ of forests. ‘Icons’
are understood as combinations of visual elements
that are recognizable for what they ‘mean’ and are
shared widely in the public sphere for the given
purposes (Rose, 2001). The identification of such
icons is seen as a contribution to better understand
the aesthetic values of forests, complementing other
social aspects of SFM. Like symbolic and spiritual
services, aesthetic services pose significant method-
ological difficulties in valuation (cf. Kant, 2003). In
environmental management practices, expert-led
approaches are still dominant and perception-based
approaches are only integrated in what has been
called a ‘shaky marriage’ (Daniel, 2001, p. 267).
With reference to the Helsinki and Montreal pro-
cesses Bell (2001) claimed that experts, such as
forest planners, designers and managers have to
incorporate visual landscape management into their
plans as part of SFM. It is widely accepted that
knowledge about the ‘sense of place’ of different
stakeholders can be a ‘powerful tool(s) for resource
managers’ (Cantrill and Senecah, 2001, p. 185) and
play a role in the policy-making process (Al-Kod-
many, 1999; Cloke and Jones, 2000; Daniel, 2001;
see also Beckley et al., in press (2003) as one of the
first forestry-related projects in the field).
By exploring the nature of forest ‘icons,’ we aim
to stimulate reflexivity in methodological as well as
cultural terms. It should be emphasized that the
material used for the interviews and the way inter-
views were conducted form an innovative approach
and, to our knowledge, the first of their kind both
in forestry and social sciences. By identifying
forestry ‘icons,’ the underpinning values and senti-
ments attached to forests by each society can be
more readily identified and investigated (cf. Dan-
iels, 1988).
1.2. Classical approaches in forest aesthetics using
visual materials
Shifts to multi-use forest management are the
background for initiating enquiries into forest aes-
thetics, according to the review of Ribe (1989).
More recently, Lothian (1999) has tabulated existing
works into two pillars termed ‘objectivist vs. sub-
jectivist’ and, in a similar vein, Bell (2001) has
distinguished between ‘expert-led’ and ‘perception-
based’ (see also Parsons and Daniel, 2002; Schlaep-
fer et al., 2002). The methods applied in most
empirical research so far are largely the same or
similar (Ode, 2003); most of them are adaptations
of the scenic beauty estimation (SBE) method
developed by Daniel and Boster (1976), using
interval scaled beauty values (cf. Hull and Buhyoff,
1986; Koch and Jensen, 1988; Bergen et al., 1995;
Tahvanainen and Tyrvainen, 1998; Hunziker and
Kienast, 1999; Bell, 2001). Recent discussions have
focused on the new media technologies, such as
computer generated (or modified) images, growth
model software and GIS-based evaluations of land-
scape preferences. Based on these developments,
some authors have doubted the continued useful-
ness of photographic materials (Johnson et al.,
1994; Karjalainen and Tyrvainen, 2002). However,
Lee (2001) found that color photographs were
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299290
appropriate as a tool for exploring public prefer-
ences and Bergen et al. (1995) concluded that final
quality assessment should be based on photographic
images.
The enquired preferences in most of the existing
studies were silvicultural options, ranging from
individual practices at site level to larger scale
practices (stand- or landscape-level, forest types).
The individual practices include ‘thinning, patch
cutting, clear cutting with snag retention, traditional
clear cutting’ (Brunson and Shelby, 1992), or ‘clear
cutting, group selection, thinning’ (Johnson et al.,
1994). Examples from larger scale practices are
‘afforestation’ (Karjalainen and Komulainen, 1998)
or ‘existence or ratio of downwood’ (Schroeder and
Daniel, 1981; Brown and Daniel, 1986; see also
Fig. 1 in Karjalainen and Tyrvainen, 2002). Forest
types are also usually termed as ‘broadleaved vs.
coniferous forest’ or ‘pine based area vs. oak based
area’ (Schroeder and Daniel, 1981; Brown and
Daniel, 1986; Koch and Jensen, 1988; Kitamura,
1995; Lee, 2001). Thus, criteria were internal to the
field of forestry in most cases. Moreover, interviews
were usually conducted on an individual basis.
Daniel and Meitner (2001), however, have high-
lighted that it is more appropriate to search into
preference judgments in groups than on an individ-
ual basis. In their research, ratings on a group basis
showed increased statistical robustness and clearly
minimized the differences between on-site and pho-
to-based evaluations.
In the broader context of the social sciences, photo
contests as social events have been largely ignored,
although the practice of photography has long been
contested. Only four works (three Japanese, one
French) dealing with this topic could be identified.
Takemura and Toyoda (1995) recorded a 50-year
history of the genre ‘nature photography’ in which
photo contest records are partially included. Aoki
(2000) examined the evolution of landscape appreci-
ation in different life stages. He analyzed the data of
183 drawings of landscapes acquired from postal
questionnaires given to photographers who partici-
pated in a national park photo contest in 1996. Oku et
al. (1998) analyzed the content of all submitted
photos (including the prize-winning ones) in one
contest with the criteria of seasons. In a more
sociological perspective, Laulan (1978) analyzed the
content of a photo contest which was designed to aid
in the conservation of lakes. She was able to make
useful distinctions with regard to the content of
submitted photos according to the origin of the
photographers (Parisian, residents in situ, people
from rural areas).
1.3. Hypothesis
The main hypothesis to be tested in the clustering
exercise is that there are sets of pictures that will be
clustered together in many if not most cases. Exis-
tence of such pairs or larger sets of pictures is
prerequisite for further research on potential ‘forestry
icons.’ Once the existence of such stable sets is
identified, further questions need to be addressed.
These include whether the same clusters exist in
German and Japanese societies, and what criteria were
applied, in particular what meanings are attached to
such clusters.
2. Methodology
2.1. Research framework: overall flow of interviews
and the creation of the material
In line with the hypothesis, the methodology of
this research was qualitative in nature. The collect-
ed interview data sets were not aimed at supporting
a result with statistical significance, but served to
explore the public perception of forests and to
initiate discussion on this topic. An inductive ap-
proach was adopted, since the methodology was
based on empirical observations from which clus-
ters were identified from a heterogeneous dataset.
The overall aim of the adopted methodology was to
identify contemporary icons of Japanese and Ger-
man cultures by providing pictures of forests to
interviewees to categorize and cluster. The overall
flow of research is shown in Fig. 1 in chronolog-
ical order (from top to bottom).
The principle of choosing photo contests and
pictures is straightforward. Ultimately, the selected
photo contests had to be participatory in nature, with
highly accessible results. In accordance with this
criterion of accessibility, photo contests were chosen
only from those available on the Internet. The two
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299 291
principles of openness to the public assured high
probability that ‘icons’ would be included in candi-
date picture selections. In choosing pictures from
different contests with varying characters, a few
amendments were adapted (e.g. control of image
quality) for compatibility.
After the selection of photo contests and sampling
of pictures from each contest, the interviewing process
was designed based on an exercise in which partic-
ipants were asked to sort through a collection of
pictures and to classify them into subjective categories
or clusters. Provision of clear instructions and explan-
ations to the interviewees were crucial before allowing
the interviewees to proceed with the clustering exer-
cises. The design of the interview process was also
revised and further refined after conducting five
individual pre-test interviews that served as prelimi-
nary trials.
The data were collected mainly in Freiburg (Ger-
many), Zurich (German-speaking Switzerland) and
Tokyo (Japan). These samples were by no means
proper representations of the whole country. As
shown in Table 1 (Section 3), the profiles (gender
and age) were not distributed equally, yet efforts
Fig. 1. Overview of choosing contests and pictures.
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299292
were made to represent the diversity of the popula-
tion while maintaining a proper balance between the
two cultures. Through group discussions (with at
least three people), interviewees were required to
categorize prize-winning photos. The research frame-
work involved a selection of 36 pictures from three
photo contests with the common theme of ‘forest/
trees,’ which were from German (or German-Swiss)
contests. Another collection of 36 pictures from four
Japanese photo contests was also assembled applying
similar selection criteria as that of the German
photos. Interviews were conducted in both Japan
and Germany, using the two photo sets (containing
36 pictures each). Interviewees were asked to cate-
gorize the pictures into clusters and were given a
high degree of freedom in the selection process as to
the number of clusters and the reasoning to group
them together.
After the main clustering exercise, two additional
questions were asked regarding the ‘sense of place’
and familiarity of the pictures felt by participants.
These individual responses were recorded as well, as
the purpose of this particular question was different
from those of the clustering exercises on a group
basis. The interviewees were asked where they
thought the pictures in general were taken. Secondly,
the interviewees were asked to speculate whether they
felt ‘at home’ or familiar with certain pictures (Ger-
man: ‘vertraut’, Japanese: ‘Shitashimi-Ga-Waku’). Vi-
sual images with an opposite feeling of unfamiliarity
were asked about as well.
2.2. Justification of clustering exercises in groups for
identifying icons
Icons are not necessarily conscious conceptions,
they are non-verbal and ambivalent in meaning.
They can be understood in conceptual rather than
material terms, as expressed in the original sense of
the Latin word imago (cf. Mitchell, 1986). Thus, the
existence of an icon is likely to become more
apparent when discussing or conversing within a
group setting. Through group discussions, pictures
belonging to the same categories of icons are sup-
posedly clustered and associated with one another,
either consciously or without clear reasoning The
PR-oriented nature of photo contest lets us assume
that popular icons would be systematically included
also in the prize-winning segments. To sum up, we
argue that it is methodologically possible to recon-
struct the icons by looking at the mechanisms and
results of clustering behavior, based on the definition
of icons as shared expressions of meaning among
interviewees, and the according strong associative
power of particular pictures.
2.3. Data analysis and clustering evaluation
The overall supporting number of cases is comput-
ed with a combination of the pictures separately for
Japanese and German groups. The same principle
applies for the data gained from the ‘core’ picture
question as well as the additional question on famil-
iarity and unfamiliarity. Plain counting is applied to
the data identifying which pictures are frequently
regarded as having strong bonding power in forming
the clusters or which pictures are ‘familiar.’ Thus,
analysis is limited to identifying frequently grouped
pictures and ‘core’ pictures in these clusters. Pictures
that are most frequently referred to as ‘familiar’ and
‘unfamiliar’ are also identified by simply counting
how many times they were nominated.
The decision making style was recorded as well as
the record of who offered to chair the discussions. In
this paper, however, we will focus on the resulting
picture clusters exclusively. Due to the limited amount
of interview data, a regress model with variables other
than nationality, such as preference differences in
gender, age and education, is excluded. Some consid-
erations on related questions were published in an
earlier paper of the first author, discussing preferences
of pictures showing dead and downwood with meth-
ods of the logistic regression and the v2-test (Kohsaka,in press 2003).
Table 1
Age range, gender of Japanese and German–Swiss interviewees
Age range Japanese group German–Swiss group
Female Male Female Male
<19 9 12 5 2
20–29 7 8 6 4
30–39 7 6 8 9
>40 12 11 11 7
Totals 35 37 30 22
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299 293
3. Results and analysis
3.1. Overview of resulting data
The output of this research is complex as it
involves two sets of materials and interviewees on a
group basis from two different language groups.
Data Set I: 14 sets of data from German participants
with German pictures.
Data Set II: 18 sets of data from Japanese participants
with German pictures.
Data Set III: 21 sets of data from Japanese participants
with Japanese pictures.
This paper focuses on identifying German forest
icons through interviews with German and Japanese
groups, as well as Japanese icons by Japanese groups.
Two sets of data were collected from the same group
if the group agreed to examine both Japanese and
German picture sets. Descriptive data were also
recorded from additional questions about the ‘sense
of the place’ as well as the unfamiliarity/familiarity of
the pictures.
3.2. Profile of interviewees with two sets of data
The gender, age group and other characteristics of
the interviewees are shown in the tables below. Eight
German, six Swiss (German-speaking) and 23 Japa-
nese groups participated in the interviews.1 The num-
ber is more than the data listed above, as some Japanese
groups only answered questions related to one set of
groupings. Each group consisted of at least three
people, usually between three and six. Gender was
equally represented in most of the groups except for
three German groups of females and one German group
of males.
3.3. Clustering results from group interviews
3.3.1. Overview of frequently clustered pictures
3.3.1.1. Results from German pictures. The assump-
tion of frequently grouped pictures was confirmed in
both picture sets as well as in the two cultures. Given
the variety of reasoning and criteria that participants
expressed during the groupings, the stable results
indicate that the research successfully identified icons
that contain sharedmeanings. Results were very similar
although the reasoning and criteria were not necessarily
clear or verbally communicated in many groups. Ger-
man pictures from Data Sets I and II were frequently
grouped in similar ways by participants from both
cultures. Three ‘clouds’2 were identified as very fre-
quently grouped pictures: one cloud with mysterious
pictures, and a second one showing a characteristic tree
in a landscape. There was one cloud in which the two
cultures differed significantly, namely with respect to
pictures of dead wood, including pictures of cut fire-
wood, stumps or naturally fallen trees.
Five pictures were included in the first cloud that
can be called ‘mysterious forests.’ These were the
clusters with high frequency in both cultures. Sup-
porting cases were found in over half of German and
two thirds of Japanese interviewees. All the pictures
contained dark foggy forests with light from the back
(Figs. 2 and 3).
The second cloud contained pictures of single trees
in open landscape. Theywere all from one contest, both
with supporting cases of six to 11 in Data Set I and 10 to
13 in Data Set II. Two of the three were a pair of
pictures with single trees in an open landscape. Inter-
estingly, the third picture affiliated with this pair was a
picture of a bench under a tree. The open landscape
seemed to evoke strong associations with human
influence.
The groups from the two cultures differed with
respect to the cloud with pictures of dead wood. The
Japanese group frequently put the cut firewood, cut
trunk and natural deadwood together, while the Ger-
man group tended to divide cut wood and ‘natural’
1 Individuals forming the groups typically were friends to one
another within a similar age range. There were 11 groups of the
same age range in Japan and four in Germany. This was largely due
to the fact that three high school and three university groups were
included in Japan. There were five family groups in both Japan and
Germany. Family groups usually consisted of the parents and a child
(a few exceptional groups included grandparents). One potential
bias in the Central German interviews is that open-minded
individuals were more likely to respond, as the interviewers were
Japanese and foreigners.
2 ‘Cloud’ refers to the number of pictures (more than three) that
were frequently grouped together. Due to copyright restrictions, not
all clouds are reproduced here.
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299294
dead wood. For Japanese groups, dead wood in a
natural setting was grouped frequently together with
firewood. The supporting cases were 14 to 16 in Data
Set II. However, it was only supported by seven cases
for German groups.
3.3.1.2. Results from Japanese pictures. All results
here are based on Data Set III in Section 3.1. Four
clouds of pictures were identified as relatively stable
and one cloud was extremely stable and is discussed
here in further detail. The cloud shows humans in-
volved in forestry or agriculture related activities. The
most frequently grouped pair was supported 21 times in
21 interviews (Figs. 4 and 5). Together with the
additional third pictures, the supporting cases were still
19 (Fig. 6). The three pictures were the most frequent
sets as a cloud. It is rather surprising that the three
pictures occupy the second rank in frequency, super-
seding all supporting cases of the other pairs. What is
significant is that these photographs are from different
contests, and all three of themwere awarded the highest
prizes in each contest. This cloud indicates a message
Fig. 3. nKorad Funk/in contest Baume und Wald.
Fig. 4. nJAFTA/in contest ‘Forest and Forestry’.
Fig. 5. nJAFTA/in contest ‘Forest and Forestry’.
Fig. 2. nJean Lochet/in contest La foret/Der Wald.
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299 295
sent out by Japanese hosting institutions, in which
forestry practice is emphasized.
The second most frequent set with 19 supporting
cases was green forest landscapes with water. The
water landscape was present in most photo contests.
The most frequent pair was from the same contest but
the following third picture was from a different
contest with support of 16 (ranking 2nd from a set
of three pictures). Another frequent set (with 19
supporting cases) was landscapes of forests with snow
or fog, showing straight trunks. Forests with rivers or
waterfalls are frequently grouped by both cultures.
3.3.2. ‘Core’ picture in groups
A picture of an autumn tree was frequently
identified as a ‘core’ picture among German pictures
in both data sets (seven to eight times in each Data
Set). The two kinds of data differed also in frequency
of the theme of cut wood. German participants
nominated cut wood pictures with relatively low
frequency (four times) while in the Japanese case,
these pictures showed a relatively high frequency of
10 times. One picture with water in the background
showed a reversed phenomenon, as it was nominated
six times by German participants, but only three
times by Japanese participants. One picture with
autumn leaves with striking color was nominated
most often (14 times) in Data Set III as the ‘core’
picture in a group. The second most frequently
nominated picture was a picture with white birch
under a clear blue sky (12 times). This second picture
happened to be the picture that was classified most
frequently as familiar.
3.4. Pictures that evoke feelings of familiarity/
unfamiliarity
The picture that was most ‘familiar’ (vertraut/
Shitashimi-Ga-Waku) from the German set of pictures
was common for the Germans as well as Japanese. It
was the only German picture with human beings, a
woman with a child walking in the forest. Unfamiliar
pictures differed for Data Set I and II. German people
felt that cut firewood piles in the forests were unfa-
miliar, while Japanese perceived the picture with the
broken trunk that died apparently due to natural
causes (presumably thunder or wind) as the most
unfamiliar. A forest picture with fog was perceived
as unfamiliar to Japanese, while it was considered
familiar to Germans. It is clear from this result that
‘deadwood’ pictures are one of the areas where the
groups from the two cultures differ most markedly.
The most familiar picture from Data Set III with
the Japanese set of pictures was the picture of a white
birch. A picture with fire was unfamiliar for Japanese
participants. The original picture was entitled ‘Yama
Yaki,’ a tradition of turf burning in the mountains, but
all interviewees but one perceived the picture as a
mountain fire.
4. Conclusion
4.1. Identification of icons occurring in photo
contests
The most significant result was the identification of
certain photographs being consistently and repeatedly
grouped by the interviewees.3 Such ‘stable’ groups
Fig. 6. nGifu Prefecture/in contest ‘Yama and Sanson’.
3 Another finding from this study was the differences between
results obtained from interviews conducted with individuals in the
pre-test and previous studies when compared to those conducted with
groups (cf. Kohsaka, in press 2003). Interestingly, a higher frequency
in similar groupings of ‘core’ pictures was achieved by the group
interviews than in the interviews conducted with individuals. This
result suggests that social icons or norms may be agreed upon more
readily by groups than identified by individuals. This finding may
indicate peer pressure or the simple fact that collective views by
groups may be more representative of the majority of the interview
population. Moreover, the criteria and categories used by the
interviewees became clearer as individuals needed to express and
communicate their opinions and feelings in the group situation.
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299296
existed in both the German set of pictures, as well as
in the Japanese collection. Evidence of similar group-
ing behavior was most apparent in the results of Data
Set III, gathered from the Japanese interviewees when
grouping the Japanese picture sets. One pair of pic-
tures was consistently grouped together. This study
provides a platform for initiating discussion on the
social dimension of forestry aesthetics, as expressed in
photography and other public media. The study was
able to investigate German and Japanese sets of forest
pictures in a manner that enabled interviewees to
express their views in an environment relatively free
from expert norms. As previously mentioned, unique
materials were used with the group-based interviews.
The results from the interviews indicated particular
photographs as consistently categorized into the same
grouping. Such grouping behavior is likely related to
socially influenced views or biases with respect to
forestry. The results also suggest that the use of forest
photo contests as a source of forest-related pictures
offers a very practical and valuable approach to
exploring the existence of forestry-related social icons
and public perceptions of forestry.
From the gathered findings, it is concluded that the
materials used (i.e. photos from forestry photography
contests) and methodology applied were suitable in
identifying contemporary forestry icons from interview
data. The lessons gained from the trial and error of
conducted pre-test interviews before conducting actual
interviews aided in enhancing the design of the re-
search framework and hence, the improvement of
results. Nevertheless, there are still some remaining
areas of improvement. When considering the ‘sense of
place’ and ‘familiarity’ questions that were posed at the
end of the interviews, interviewees generally expressed
rather vague feelings and responses were relatively
unclear. The tendency for interviewees to be confused
about the source of the photographs or the distinction
between Asian and Western (i.e. European and North
American) origins was common. These topics involv-
ing ‘place’ need to be more clearly defined, and the
research framework needs to be refined as well.
The findings can be summarized adapting a
famous phrase of the French philosopher Roland
Barthes: ‘In Japan, forests are in forestry, while in
Germany forests are everywhere but in forestry’
(Barthes, 1982). In other words, Japanese tend to
view trees as commodities, whereas Germans tend
to associate forests with mystery and romance in
their representations as they are present in photo
contests. This conclusion can be based on the
remarkable differences in German and Japanese
clustering behavior, as well as in the photo contests
themselves. If confirmed, such findings may have
important implications for forestry science in terms
of public communication in different cultural con-
texts. The study revealed that social icons identified
from Japanese photo sources by the Japanese inter-
viewees tended to be oriented towards human use,
appreciation of spiritual disciplines and expertise in
forestry practices. However, German icons were
based on pastoral landscapes.
As we have seen in Section 3, icons found in
Japanese contests by Japanese groups are oriented
towards human use and the beauty of the discipline by
experts. The icons drawn from German sources,
however, built themselves more on abstract, mysteri-
ous or romantic impressions of forests, with minor
differences resulting from either German or Japanese
groups of interviewees. In general, the presence of
forestry practices in identified Japanese icons demon-
strates an awareness of the forestry industry, in stark
contrast to German icons that were based on art,
romanticism, leisure and recreation. In terms of public
relations, the focus of German forestry organizations
is on returning forestry to nature or a ‘more natural
state.’ This can also be evidenced in publicly available
brochures emphasizing recreation, the recurrence of
the term ‘Naturnahe’ (nature-closeness), or ‘Totholz-
konzept’ (Deadwood concept), and in the reservations
in planting non-native tree species, such as the Doug-
las fir (Scherzinger, 1996). Maps of vegetation cover
before human settlement are often shown, showing
larger proportions of broadleaf forests to emphasize
the ‘unnatural’ proportions of conifers arising during
post-settlement. In contrast, the focus of Japanese
forestry organizations (i.e. the Forestry Agency of
Japan) tends to be more practical in nature, aiming
at acquainting younger generations and urban resi-
dents with present and traditional forestry practices,
such as thinning or hand making of charcoals (For-
restry Agency of Japan, 2001). The profound knowl-
edge in traditional crafts ‘hidden’ in seemingly
outdated industries is often highlighted. Therefore, a
more romantic view of forests has been adopted in
Germany, whereas the view of forests has been more
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299 297
functional and oriented towards human work in Japan.
Accordingly, normal forests (Normalwald, in Ger-
man) or forests with human interventions are more
evident in Japanese contests and are identified as
social icons, whereas German contests tend to exhibit
fewer normal forest motifs with more mixture in age
and species. Evidence of normal forests in photo-
graphs includes the presence of logs, stumps or other
indications of human presence or intervention. Such
motifs were barely present in German photographs,
which were based almost entirely on natural land-
scapes and scenery. Wang (2004) in this issue also
stated that ‘normal forests’ were out of step in an
Anglo-American context. These results have signifi-
cant implications for methods of communication
adopted by forestry organizations and academics
when addressing audiences from different cultural
backgrounds. However, the author does not suggest
that such differences are a reflection of nationalities
per se, but rather an influence of differences in the
self-presentation and portrayal of forests and the
forestry industry in different cultural societies (for
the broader cultural representation of forests; see also
Flitner (2000) and Kohsaka (2000)).
4.2. Future tasks
There are a number of questions opened up by the
results presented above. We will restrain our comment
here to three future tasks to build on these results:
4.2.1. Task 1: interpretations of icons in larger social
contexts
There is a need to extend the findings from
visual images and content analyses to a wider
context and different types of media in order to
further examine the role of forestry industry and
organizations in the public sphere. More questions
need to be raised about the material presented in
contests and how they are a reflection of social
views, norms and meanings.
4.2.2. Task 2: non-visual aspects of photo contest
Parallel to the visual image oriented (or content
related) analysis of the photos, the functioning of
photo contests (and hosting institutions) as social
structures and processes at a larger scale came into
focus.
4.2.3. Task 3: different attempts to deal with
legitimacy problems by German and Japanese
forestry organizations
Results from this study may offer insight into the
legitimacy strategies adopted by German and Japa-
nese forestry organizations. Differences were not only
evident in the selected pictures themselves but also in
written and unwritten contest rules, criteria and the
framework of judgement. The organizational inten-
tions of self-representation and promotion of particu-
lar forestry practices may also have a significant
influence in picture selection. Further research is
required to explore the mechanics behind such legit-
imization processes and to understand to what extent
actors with a different cultural background adopt
different strategies to address similar problems related
to the new communicative challenges of SFM.
Acknowledgements
The first author would like to thank Dr Handoh,
Prof. Inoue, Prof. Ishii, Prof. Nagata, Dr Obersteiner
(IIASA), Prof. Oesten, Mr Shibazaki and Ms Tan for
their valuable comments.
References
Al-Kodmany, K., 1999. Using visualization techniques for enhanc-
ing public participation in planning and design: process, imple-
mentation and evaluation. Landscape and Urban Planning 45,
37–45.
Aoki, Y., 2000. Evolution of landscape appreciation in the history
of landscape painting and in the first remembrance of landscape
(in Japanese, with English abstract). Journal of The Japanese
Institute of Landscape Architecture 63, 371–374.
Barthes, R., 1982. Empire of Signs Hill and Wang, New York.
Beckley, T.M., Stedman, R.C., Ambard, M., Wallace, S., in press.
New methods for understanding sense of place. Proceedings of
65th Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society.
Bell, S., 2001. Landscape pattern, perception and visualisation in
the visual management of forests. Landscape and Urban Plan-
ning 54, 201–211.
Bergen, S.D., Ulbricht, C.A., Fridley, J.L., Ganter, M.A., 1995. The
validity of computer-generated graphic images of forest land-
scape. Journal of Environmental Psychology 15, 135–146.
Brown, T.C., Daniel, T.C., 1986. Predicting scenic beauty of timber
stands. Forest Science 32, 471–487.
Brunson, M., Shelby, B., 1992. Assessing recreational and scenic
quality. Journal of Forestry 90, 37–41.
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299298
Brunson, M.W., Reiter, K.D., 1996. Effects of ecological informa-
tion on judgements about scenic impacts of timber harvest.
Journal of Environmental Management 46, 31–41.
Cantrill, J.G., Senecah, S.L., 2001. Using the ‘sense of self-in-
place’ construct in the context of environmental policy-making
and landscape planning. Environmental Science and Policy 4,
185–203.
Cloke, P., Jones, O., 2000. From wasteland to woodland to ‘little
Switzerland’: environmental and recreational management in
place, culture and time. In: Font, X., Tribe, J. (Eds.), Forest Tour-
ism and Recreation. CABI Publishing, New York, pp. 161–182.
Daniels, S., 1988. The political iconography of woodland in later
Georgian England. In: Cosgrove, D., Daniels, S. (Eds.), The
Iconography of Landscape. Cambridge University Press, Cam-
bridge, pp. 43–82.
Daniel, T.C., 2001. Whither scenic beauty? Visual landscape quality
assessment in the 21st century. Landscape and Urban Planning
54, 267–281.
Daniel, T.C., Boster, R.S., 1976. Measuring landscape esthetics: the
scenic beauty estimation method. USDA Forest Service Re-
search Paper RM-167, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Ex-
periment Station, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.
Daniel, T.C., Meitner, M.M., 2001. Representational validity of
landscape visualizations: the effects of the graphical realism
on perceived scenic beauty of forest vistas. Journal of Environ-
mental Psychology 21, 61–72.
Flitner, M., 2000. Gibt es einen ‘deutschen Tropenwald’? Anleitung
zur Spurensuche. In: Flitner, M. (Ed.), Der deutsche Tropen-
wald. Bilder, Mythen, Politik. Campus, Frankfurt, pp. 9–20.
Forestry Agency of Japan, 2001. Forestry White Paper (in Japa-
nese). Nihon Rinngyou Kyoukai, Tokyo.
Hull IV, B.R., Buhyoff, G.J. 1986. The scenic beauty temporal
distribution method: an attempt to make scenic beauty assess-
ments compatible with forest planning efforts. Forest Science
32, 271–286.
Hunziker, M., Kienast, F., 1999. Potential impacts of changing
agricultural activities on scenic beauty—a prototypical tech-
nique for automated rapid assessment. Landscape Ecology 14,
161–176.
Jedicke, E., 1994. Biotopverbund: Grundlagen und Maßnahmen
einer neuen Naturschutzstrategie. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Johnson, L.R., Brunson, M.W., Kimura, T., 1994. Using image-
capture technology to assess scenic value at the urban/forest
interface: a case study. Journal of Environmental Management
40, 183–195.
Kant, S., 2003. Extending the boundaries of forest economics. For-
est Policy and Economics 5, 39–56.
Karjalainen, E., Komulainen, M., 1998. Field afforestation prefer-
ences: a case study in northeastern Finland. Landscape and
Urban Planning 43, 79–90.
Karjalainen, E., Tyrvainen, L., 2002. Visualization in forest land-
scape preference research: a Finnish perspective. Landscape and
Urban Planning 59, 13–28.
Kitamura, M., 1995. Forests and Japanese (in Japanese). Shogaku-
kan, Tokyo.
Knight, J., 2000. From timber to tourism: recommoditizing the
Japanese forest. Development and Change 31, 341–359.
Koch, E.N., Jensen, F.S., 1988. Skovenes friluftsfunktion i Dan-
mark. IV. (Forest recreation in Denmark. Part IV: the preferences
of the population). Det Forstlige Forsøgsvaesen 41, 365–417.
Kohsaka, R., 2000. Gift und Tabu. Bemerkung zur japanischen
Tropenwalddebatte. In: Flitner, M. (Ed.), Der deutsche Tropen-
wald. Bilder, Mythen, Politik. Campus, Frankfurt, pp. 214–221.
Kohsaka, R., in press. Exploring Criteria in Forest Aesthetics:
Rough Sets Theory and Discourse Analysis. IIASA Interim Re-
port IR-03-038, Austria.
Laulan, A.M., 1978. La fonction sociale de la photographie (with
English abstract). Communications 4, 110–121.
Lee, T.R., 2001. Perceptions, attitudes and preferences in forests
and woodlands. Forestry Commission Technical Paper 18, For-
estry Commission, Edinburgh.
Lothian, A., 1999. Landscape and the philosophy of aesthetics: is
landscape quality inherent in the landscape or in the eye of the
beholder? Landscape and Urban Planning 44, 177–198.
Mitchell, W.J.T., 1986. Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology Universi-
ty Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ode, A., 2003. Visual aspects in urban woodland management and
planning. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp.
At: http://diss-epsilon.slu.se/archive/00000195/(Information
retrieved on September 18th, 2003).
Oku, H., Fukamachi, K., Shimomura, A., 1998. Sense of seasonal
matters in the rural landscape through a photo contest (in Jap-
anese, with English abstract). Journal of The Japanese Institute
of Landscape Architecture 61, 631–636.
Parsons, R., Daniel, T.C., 2002. Good looking: in defense of scenic
landscape aesthetics. Landscape and Urban Planning 60, 43–56.
Ribe, R.G., 1989. The aesthetics of forestry: what has empirical
preference research taught us? Environmental Management 13,
55–74.
Rose, G., 2001. Visual Methodologies: an Introduction to the In-
terpretation of Visual Materials. Saga Publications, London.
Scherzinger, W., 1996. Naturschutz im Wald: Qualitatsziele einer
dynamischen Waldentwicklung. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
Schlaepfer, R., Iorgulescu, I., Glenz, C., 2002. Management of
forested landscapes in mountain areas: an ecosystem-based ap-
proach. Forest Policy and Economics 4, 89–99.
Schmithusen, F., Kazemi, Y., Seeland, K., 1997. Perceptions and
attitudes of the population towards forests and their social
benefits: social origins and research topics of studies con-
ducted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland between 1960
and 1995. IUFRO Occasional Paper 7. Arbora Publishers,
Zvolen.
Schroeder, H., Daniel, T.C., 1981. Progress in predicting the per-
ceived scenic beauty of forest landscapes. Forest Science 27,
71–80.
Tahvanainen, L., Tyrvainen, L., 1998. Model for predicting the
scenic value of rural landscape: a preliminary study of landscape
preferences in North Carelia. Scandinavian Journal of Forest
Research 13, 378–384.
Takemura, Y., Toyoda, H., 1995. 50 years history of Japanese na-
ture photography: review of 1500 nature photographic books (in
Japanese). Bunichi Sougou, Tokyo.
Wang, S., 2004. One hundred faces of sustainable forest manage-
ment. Forest Policy and Economics 6, 205–213 (this issue).
R. Kohsaka, M. Flitner / Forest Policy and Economics 6 (2004) 289–299 299
