“More than 40% of the population in Japan suffers from hay fever, or kafunsho, an annual affliction.

The majority of Japan’s hay fever sufferers are allergic to the pollen of two trees — sugi and hinoki. Both trees were widely planted in the years following World War II as a much-needed source of timber.

In 2023, the Japanese government announced a solution: Fell 750,000 hectares of sugi and hinoki trees in a bid to cut the problem off at the root.

After decades of work, researchers have developed more than 30 strains of low-pollen and no-pollen sugi trees, which will replace some of the trees cut down.”

From Mongabay.