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GLOSSARY
Trees: Japanese varieties
Due to its geographical distribution and diversity of climate and topography, Japan contains an abundance of flora among which there are a great many varieties. Conifers, in particular, are typical of the Japanese landscape from the semi-tropical south to the far north and their timber is essential to many facets of Japanese life, both traditional and modern. The Japanese word todomatsu is used rather freely to describe both red fir and blue fir. The former, which is found in Hokkaido and the southern Kurile islands, grows to 25 metres in height and 60cm diameter. The latter, the blue fir, grows to 30 metres in height and I metre in diameter and it is a native of southern Sakhalin and Hokkaido. There are many varieties among these two trees and some defy classification. Each year, some 100 million cubic metres of fir timber is shipped from Hokkaido for a wide variety of domestic and industrial uses.