The year 2011 was the International Year of Forests. The theme in Japan was “Walking in the Forests.” At INFOM, we held a special event called "Walking Forest Therapy Roads ® with a Doctor". It was related to the International Year of Forests and supported by the Green　and　Water　Fund (which　is　under　the　auspices　of　the　National　Land　Afforestation　Promotion　Organization.)

Locations.

The event was held at 8 locations that were selected from a total of 44 existing Forest Therapy Bases nationwide. Six of these have opened a PR page on the INFOM website to make themselves internationally known (They are: Ueno Village, Gunma Prefecture; Yamanouchi Town, Nagano Prefecture; Iinan Town , Shimane Prefecture; Chizu Town, Tottori Prefecture; Kitago Town, Miyazaki Prefecture and Ukiha City, Fukuoka Prefecture), and two more are scheduled to open a PR page (Yusuhara Town, Kochi Prefecture and Hinokage-Town, Miyazaki Prefecture).

Participants.

Including the kick-off event, ten events were organized. A total of 104 people, ranging in age from 3 to 84 participated in the events. According to the questionnaire survey, a very high figure of 91% of participants reported being either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the doctors’ treatment. Reports of the events at each of the bases were well covered by the mass media.( i.e. TV, radio, the press and magazines.)

Iinan Town receives award.

Iinan Town, Shimane Prefecture, where one of the events was held, has received "The Development of a Region in 2010" Award from the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. In addition, the Japan Center for Regional Development (http://www.g.platform.jp/chiiki/top07f.htm) is posting the video of "Walking Forest Therapy Roads ® with a Doctor" as one of the file images on the Internet as of 3rd February.

Results of research.

In an effort to improve our domain, namely medical science relating to the entire field of nature, we at INFOM will collect and analyze a wide variety of international research results regarding integrated medicine as well as how to better maintain health. Furthermore, we intend to present the results publicly on the Web in order to share this information internationally.

Finally, through our clinicians, we expect to utilize any new research study results in the "Walking Forest Therapy Roads ® with a Doctor" program as well as other programs and we will work towards widely disseminating these results by responding to the requests from the base as well as from participants.