NAGANO -- The late C.W. Nicol resided at the foot of Mt. Kurohime in the town of Shinano, Nagano Prefecture. For about 40 years while pursuing his career as a writer and naturalist, Nicol revived a deserted forest.
"Forestation is creating a future 100 years from now," Nicol, who died at 79 of rectal cancer April 3, would often say as he continued to call for the coexistence of man and nature.
Nicol left his birthplace of Wales at the age of 17 to study marine mammals in Canada. He first came to Japan in 1962 to learn karate.
"Drift ice in the north and coral reefs in the south. No country is as rich in biodiversity as Japan," he said. With such a fascination with the nature of Japan, he began to live in Nagano in 1980.
However, natural forests on mountains were cut down and replaced with artificial forests of Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress. It left the balance of the mountain ecosystem in disarray. In 1986, he purchased about 5 hectares of undeveloped forest and dubbed it "Afan Woodland."
Afan means "a place where wind passes" in Welsh. He thinned the woods so that sunlight could reach the ground, and planted oak and beech trees. The forest expanded to about 34 hectares, and eventually owls built nests and goshawks spread their wings across the sky.
Nobuyoshi Matsuki, 84, a local forester who helped take care of the forest, fondly remembers Nicol rubbing the trunk of a large tree and giving it a long big hug. "His dignified character that didn't sweat the little things was just like that big tree," he said.
In 1995, Nicol acquired Japanese nationality, and in 2002 established a foundation to revitalize forests. He was greatly concerned about the destruction of nature in Japan in the shadow of economic expansion.
"Deep down in eyes that could have a playful side, you could see an anger burning for things that destroy nature, " recalls singer Tokiko Kato, 76, a friend of Nicol's for 40 years.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, he helped in the rebuilding of an elementary school on high ground in the tsunami-hit city of Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture. The school building was constructed with lumber from the area. The woodlands spread behind the school became a "learning laboratory."
Kato, who provided support for the project, said, "He fostered children's ability to live in nature. This school is a tangible symbol of his ideas."
Disaster victims and children with disabilities were among those invited to Afan Woodland. When blind soccer player Kaito Niwa, 22, entered the forest, he felt the wind, the trees, and the breath of animals and plants resonate with each other, making the forest seem to extend far and wide.
"Just as a forest maintains a balance among many living creatures, I learned that every person has their own role to play [in society]," he said with gratitude.
Prior to his death, Nicol said, "The best gift the forest can give us is the sense that we are one with it. The forest will continue to live for us after I die. I finally got a hometown I should return to."
He has never left the Afan Woodland.
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