What were the most interesting visits?
Professionally speaking, we have learnt a lot thanks to the visits of two research centers, one intergovernemental organisation, three commercial firms and a University. Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd is a very interesting research center: you can work on anti-sismic buildings, wood species, genetics or designing a house. In Tokyo, we had the opportunity to visit the International Tropical Timber Organization, where people work on conservation, management, exploitation and sustainable trade of tropical forests. There are 59 members, whom represents 80% of tropical forests in the world and 90% of tropical timber trade. The sawmill Chugoku Wood Co.Ltd is very large (411,000 m² !), has km of production lines, raised 2 m high, in order to allow trucks to collect shavings.
From a personal viewpoint, what have you learned from this trip?
This was a great human and professional experience. This is a dream that our group of students has realized thanks to the motivation and commitment of all the students. We immersed ourselves in Japanese culture, discovered this civilization with for instance the visit of the wood market, a museum and several boudhist and shintoist temples, all this in a busy schedule.