In new Mashiki Town Hall building, Kumamoto prefecture, MAS and Ishinomaki Laboratory by Karimoku have installed their products made out of local wood, slash pine, which was grown in “Suntory Natural Water Sanctuary ASO” in Kumamoto.

The slash pine is normally planted in US and tentatively it was planted in this forest on a small scale. However, in order to preserve of endemic spieces and to get sunlight on the forest floor more, it needs to be cut.

Karimoku tried to use this wood they called “Ikurinzai” and and created very cozy viewing floor. Moreover, this project utilized The Forest Environmental Tax and promote utilizing domestic wood.

MAS products are basically made out of Japanese cypress, Hinoki, however, they have a potential to be made out of varieties of wood as the cyress is more soft than hardwood.

photo：Atsushi Kawahara