What is Biophilic Design? Biophilia is the human love of nature. Biophilic design is the practice of consciously incorporating materials or spaces that reinforce our relationship with the living world into…

What is Biophilic Design? Biophilia is the human love of nature. Biophilic design is the practice of consciously incorporating materials or spaces that reinforce our relationship with the living world into…
Over the years we’ve seen a lot of mixed information circling the web surrounding what shou sugi ban is, how it is used, and wood siding in general. As industry leader since…
Our EU branch in Düsseldorf, Germany, has now been open for one year and things are ramping up. Martin and Andreas are running a tight ship, having tested and selected a range…
There are several ubiquitous words in Japanese that are great culture studies. One of the most important is the concept of “mottainai”. Mottainai represents the concepts of efficiency, modesty, and practicality, all…
We at Nakamoto Forestry North America are incredibly proud to have been a part of this innovative building design. The Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building in Newport, OR is a collaborative effort…
It’s inexpensive. It’s durable. It’s beautiful. It’s wholesome. Yakisugi, also known as “shou sugi ban” in the west, is quickly becoming known worldwide as a great option for exterior siding. But how…
Today I was getting ready to wash my yakisugi privacy wall in a spring cleanup and started noticing how it is weathering. Then I realized this is good content since weathering is…
Holed up during the pandemic this weekend I was at home thinking about blog content ideas and what would benefit our customers the most to share. One of the FAQs on our…
This post is trivial for most people and is written with traditional tradesmen in mind. You might need to be OCD and infatuated with wood to appreciate this. A little extra care…
Our timberland management in Japan is focused on sustainability and our manufacturing side is focused on ethical products for healthy living, so we get excited about passive houses or other types of…
This is a long and technical one because this subject is important, complex, nuanced and fun. Owners Want Low Maintenance and Beauty Architects and owners come to us with an almost universal…
We don’t get to meet many of our customers since we have an efficient distribution setup shipping directly throughout North America without a traveling sales team. Local projects are super fun since…
We landed at Tokyo Narita earlier this summer on a cloudy Monday afternoon, legs sore from our ten-hour direct flight from Portland. It was my first experience in Japan, and I was…
During the transition out of the 19th century (esp 1890-1910) and into modernity, Western architects started implementing Japanese architectural details and thought in order to further their inspired vision. At the time,…
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting Japan, one of the first major differences that you might have noticed is the architecture. Cities such as Tokyo and Osaka that were levelled…
Often people ask us if yakisugi (shou sugi ban) really will last 80 years without maintenance. When we ask them where they got that number they always have read it on the…
Learn more about the linguistic background and why there is so much confusion between “Yakisugi” and “Shou Sugi Ban” in North America and Europe. When we started researching the North American and…
Growth Rings in Yakisugi “shou sugi ban” Cypress Siding Growth ring patterns are critical to both yakisugi “shou sugi ban” appearance and, more than most people realize, wood longevity. Anyone considering wood siding is…