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The rebuilding of nature through disrupting the land, can facilitate deep connections between human and nature and decreases levels of isolation.

In her novel, Tsing argues that "woodland revitalization groups who" cause "small-scale disturbance might draw both people and forest out of alienation, building a world of overlapping lifeways in which mutualistic transformation, the mode of mycorrhiza, might yet be possible" (Tsing 258).

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In the 1950s, the Japanese government began national forest planning. A key component of this was clear-cutting.

"By the early 1960s, what had once been peasant forests across central Japan had become sugi and hinoki tree plantations" (260)

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The reconstruction of Japan's Satoyamas with a focus on growing Matsutake can help Japanese citizens reconnect with one another and reconnect with nature.

"Groups such as Kyoto's Matsutake Crusaders take advantage of the mushroom's allure to make it the symbol for their commitments to renewing the working relations of people and forests" (264).

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The 1950s and 1960s saw an unprecedented era of rapid industrialization in Japan.

"Farmers left the country-side behind; rural areas once used for peasant livelihoods became spaces of neglect and abandonment" (260). In addition, Japan's " 'fuel revolution' meant that even remote farmers were using fossil fuels...Thus, the most important uses of the peasant forest disappeared".

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For the red pine trees that had survived clear-cutting and neglect, they then experienced sickness. Since there was virtually no one caring for the trees anymore, no one was able to defend them against any disease and stress, leading to more red pine trees dying off.

"Pine wilt nematodes" began to kill "off most of centrals Japan's red pines" (261).

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After a period of rapid urbanization, Japan's economic growth came to a plateau. The rampant focus on economic and technology growth in previous years led to the detachment of human connections. This caused the alienation of society, as displayed in the hikikomori.

"[T]he hikikomori is a young person, usually a teenage boy, who shuts himself in his room and refuses face-to-face contact... They isolate themselves through engagement in a world of images that leaves them free from embodied sociality - and mired in a self-made prison" (263)

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The decline of matsutake cultivating has led to the decrease in humans working together towards a common goal. This reduction of communities leads to human suffering and isolation.

As Kokki Goto, says " 'When people say 'Things were better in the old days,' what they have in mind, I believe, is the joy of doing things together with many people. We have lost that joy" (261).

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Context: green

Tsing's Arguments: red

Evidence: yellow

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Working on to a common goal such as growing matsutake can help unify people of all different backgrounds.

"Many of the volunteers were retired people, but there were also students, housewives, and salaried employees willing to give up free weekends" (259)

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Matsutake Crusaders - Tsing's Case Study

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Matsutake Crusaders - Tsing's Case Study

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A group led by Dr. Yoshimura called the Matsutake Crusaders focus their efforts on bringing the forest back to its glory days in hopes of eventually growing matsutake. Regardless of their goals, they emphasize the journey in matsutake's growth and the human connection and experiences they gain.

"The Crusaders do not aim for finished gardens; they work for still-emergent forests, which arrange themselves around the possibilities of tradition-sized disturbance. The satoyama becomes a zone where more-than-human social relations - including their own - have a chance to flourish" (259).

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Humans and Mushrooms are not so Different

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Humans and Mushrooms are not so Different

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Matsutake cannot be traditionally grown. In today's world, it can only flourish in forests that are affected by humans. This is done by humans removing invasive plants, like broadleaf trees, from the land, so only red pines are left. This human intervention leads to communities bonding over a shared common goal.

"By the time we arrived" the volunteers "were scattered across the hillside, digging up the roots of the broadleaf trees that had invaded what once had been a hillside of pines" (258).

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How Transforming Nature Can Transform Humans

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How Transforming Nature Can Transform Humans

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On a simplistic level, matsutake and satoyama revitalization helps to restore Japan's original environments, however, it represents so much more. It is an essential tool for improving human connection through community.

"No one thinks that matsutake will bring Japan back to its pre-bubble glory. Rather than redemption, matsutake-forest revitalization picks through the heap of alienation" (264).

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Mycorrhiza: How it Functions Beyond a Scientific Level 

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Mycorrhiza: How it Functions Beyond a Scientific Level 

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Red pines are essential for matsutake growth through the process of mycorrhiza. Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between fungi and the roots of certain trees. In this case, matsutake grows with the roots of red pine trees. This symbiotic relationship can be applied to human alienation. As the satoyamas in Japan are rejuvenated, human connection and happiness is improved.

"There is more involved than helping out peasants-and pines. Satoyama work, volunteers explain, remakes the human spirit" (262).

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The Matsutake Crusaders hope to create a latent commons through their work. To them this looks like a world in which humans come together to solve a problem in the environment. This is a world in which everyone is equal and all voices matter.

"They hope their actions might stimulate a latent commons, that is, an eruption of shared assembly, even as they know they can't actually make a commons" (258).

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In pre-urbanization Japan, Japan was covered in lands between farmlands and mountains called satoyamas. These lands represent a traditional way of living in which people worked together to sustain their non-urbanized lives. Unfortunately, they have been largely irradicated, however, matsutake revitalization also aims to restore satoyamas to their former importance: a mode for humans working together.

"The satoyama becomes a zone where more-than-human social relations - including their own - have a chance to flourish" (259).