Small World: Saving Saitama Satoyama Forest in San Francisco



If you are living in Tokyo, one of the best places to visit on a day off, if you long for nature and forest, may be Sayama, Saitama prefecture. There are others, such as Takao, or Nikko, if you have the time. Sayama has some really nice walks, and the kind of feel that you may not get easily anywhere else near the nation's capital.



Over in San Francisco, an exhibition about Totoro, the anime character created by Hayao Miyazaki, has spurred quite a movement to support the Sayama forests. Called the Totoro Forest Project, you can help protect precious forest area here in not-so-rural Japan. In San Francisco, you can visit the art exhibition with works celebrating forests at the Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 US (between Second Street and Third Street).


So, in California, there is an appeal to preserve the Sayama forest on the outskirts of Tokyo, that was adopted by Hayao Miyazaki, who was instrumental in setting up the Forest Fund after the success of his 1990 film, My Neighbor Totoro. The fund has since raised $3 million. Wow.

"The biggest motivation for this event is really to show our appreciation and tribute for Miyazaki — so many of us in the animation world are in this business because of him," Pixar Art Director Dice Tsutsumi said to San Francisco Business Times. "It’s not just a forest in Japan, it symbolizes any forest in the world. It’s not just one enemy we’re fighting so we just have to raise awareness."


Totoro Forest Project is an international charity effort to preserve Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest. This forest sanctuary on the outskirts of Tokyo is where director Hayao Miyazaki got the inspiration for his much loved character "Totoro." Over 200 top international artists from animation, illustration, and comics are donating artwork especially created for this cause. Small world!

From September 6, 2008 Pixar Animation Studios will be hosting an art auction event featuring all these fantastic pieces of art, until February 8, 2009.

Treehugger: Satoyama
Treehugger: Totoro Forest Project

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