日本作为一个岛国,领土大部分地区属于温和湿润的海洋性季风气候,森林资源极为丰富。森林面积为2512万公顷,森林覆盖率高达67%,仅次于芬兰和瑞典,居世界第三位。其中,天然林占59%,人工林占41%。在人工林中,约有85%的林地面积属于未成熟林,需要进行间伐(编者注:间伐指在一定的森林面积上分次砍伐全部的林木)等管护工作。日本在第二次世界大战后一直实施木材进口方针,是世界上最大的木材进口国。该国 Japan, as an island nation, has a temperate and humid maritime monsoon climate in most parts of the country. Its forest resources are extremely rich. The forest area is 25,120,000 hectares and the forest coverage rate is as high as 67%, second only to Finland and Sweden, ranking third in the world. Among them, 59% of natural forests and 41% of plantations. In planted forests, about 85% of the forest land belongs to immature forests and needs to be thinned (Editor’s Note: Thinning refers to the total number of trees deforested in a given area of ​​forest). Japan has been implementing the timber import policy since the Second World War and is the world’s largest timber importer. The country