Two-thirds of Japan is covered with forest which is rapidly reaching maturity, even though the country is one of the main timber-importing nations of the world. This book examines the international and domestic issues that would arise if Japan were to utilize this resource in the near future. The contents of the book include: a review of the background of Japanese forestry and the history of Japan’s increasing dependence on international trade for its forest products; patterns of demand for various forest products in Japan, and the factors that influence them; the domestic market supply, international imports, and the problems faced by countries supplying Japan; recent long-range forecasts by the Japanese government compared with the author’s own econometric model of the forestry sector and long-range forecast.