White pine trees among symbols of Yakushima

The Yomiuri Shimbun

YAKUSHIMACHO, Kagoshima--The late Fumiko Hayashi wrote in her novel "Ukigumo" (Floating Clouds) that it rained "35 days in a month" on Yakushima island, 60 kilometers south of Kyushu.

The island is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous for its rainy weather and yakusugi cedar trees that are more than 1,000 years old. But, according to a leader of a local volunteer group, Yakushima also is home to other symbolic trees.

These are yakutanegoyo, a species of Japanese white pine, which only grow in the wild on Yakushima and Tanegashima islands, according to Kenshi Tezuka, leader of the volunteer group overseeing the white pines on Yakushima.

However, yakutanegoyo are in danger of extinction. Because of pest damage and excessive logging after World War II, the number of trees has declined to about 2,000 on Yakushima and 300 on Tanegashima.

The volunteer group led by Tezuka, 58, was formed in 1999 to share information about yakutanegoyo and promote their protection.

Since then, in cooperation with its counterpart on Tanegashima, the volunteer group has been trying to record the location, diameter and height of every single yakutanegoyo tree on Yakushima. The group has also been labeling each of them and mapping their locations.

On Yakushima, the white pine trees grow naturally in only three areas between 300 meters and 1,000 meters of elevation. These areas are rubble-covered ridges and rocky cliffs.

"[Yakutanegoyo] grow slower than red and black pines," said Seiichi Kanetani, a chief research fellow at the Kyushu branch of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. "Since the flora on Yakushima is diverse, they probably lose out to other plants in the growing process and can only grow naturally in places where there are no other plants."

Kanetani, 42, studied yakutanegoyo in graduate school at Kyushu University. He met Tezuka, and they formed the volunteer survey group. A total of 948 group members participated in 118 surveys and located the 1,896 pine trees on the island. The survey data has been utilized at the research institute.

"The end of the distribution survey is already in sight," said Tezuka. However, he is concerned that a significant number of the white pine trees at higher elevations recently died. He suspects the deaths might be directly related to cross-border pollution from China.

"I will keep asking the government to designate [yakutanegoyo] as a national natural monument and will try to clearly have it recognized as another symbol of the island," Tezuka said.

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Biden's trip to China, Mongolia, Japan part of Asian strategy: White House - Xinhua

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday starts his visits to China, Mongolia and Japan as part of the Obama administration's efforts to "renew and intensify" the U.S. role in Asia, a senior White House official said on Monday.

"This trip that starts tomorrow is part of the administration's dedicated effort over the last two-and-a-half years to renew and intensify the U.S. role in Asia," Biden's national security advisor Antony Blinken said.

"We've pursued a consistent strategy set out by President Obama to expand our presence and our influence in the region," he told reporters via a conference call, calling the vice president's trip "a reflection of our belief that the United States is a Pacific power whose interests are inextricably linked with Asia's economic security and political order."

Biden's East Asian trip is his first as vice president. Blinken said that during his four-day stay in China, Biden will discuss with Chinese leaders the "full breadth of issues" in the U.S.- China relationship. In his visit to Chengdu, a city in southwestern Sichuan Province, the vice president will give a speech on U.S.-China relations at Sichuan University.

He will also travel to Dujiangyan City in the province, jointly with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, where they will visit a high school that was rebuilt following the 2008 earthquake, Blinken said.

Blinken described Biden's visit to Mongolia as "truly historic, " as the last visit of a U.S. vice president to the country was in 1944, when Henry Wallace toured Asia and included a stop in Mongolia.

"Mongolia offers an important example of a successful transition to a strong democracy and a partner with whom we're expanding cooperation in a broad variety of diplomatic, economic and defense areas," Blinken said. "Like China, this visit to Mongolia is a reflection of our broader effort to engage emerging powers as a way to build a secure, prosperous and democratic Asia. "

In his one-day trip, Biden will meet Mongolia's Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold and President Tsakhia Elbegdorj, who met President Obama at his Oval Office during a June visit.

Blinken said that Biden visits Japan to "underscore that the U. S.-Japan alliance is strong."

"And, of course, Japan is an ally, but also a friend," Blinken said. "And the U.S. stands with and supports Japan and the Japanese people as they recover from the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency."

During his two-day stay, Biden will meet Prime Minister Naoto Kan and visit the northeastern city of Sendai, where American forces took the lead in reopening the airport after the earthquake, Blinken said.

"The economic side of the trip obviously is very important," said Lael Brainard, under secretary of Treasury for international affairs.

He noted that the trip provides an opportunity for the vice president to "advance American economic interests in the dynamic region in Asia broadly."

"Of course, our trade and investment ties with China in particular are growing rapidly in both directions and we expect this to continue to be a vitally important trade investment relationship in terms of our broader jobs and exports agenda," he added.

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