This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Meiji Grand Shrine forest: planted in 1920 on what was fields and agricultural land it is now a verdant virtually untouched forest covering 70 hectares in the heart of Tokyo. 
Built by hand by a workforce of 110 000 volunteers, the forest is a collection of 365 different species of native trees, 122,000 trees in total, the vast majority donated by the public. Dug up and transported by oxcart and train to the site of the new forest, planted by hand.
The forest was built on a 200 year plan to create an independent and completely sustainable ecosystem of animals, plants, insects etc. There are gravel paths leading through it, but the forest itself is fenced off and no-one, not even staff members are allowed inside.
I still remember the first time I walked on the main path through the forest towards the Meiji Grand Shrine located roughly in the middle of it. The air is splendid and peering inside the almost primeval landscape is balm for the soul.
The idea of the forest is not to create a park or a place for humans to escape the city, it is a traditional shinto preserve, to honor the gods of nature that surrounds and protects the buildings that enshrine the Emperor. A place of religious solemnity rather than recreation.
