From Gary Strieker CNN. TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- As the biggest importer of timber in the international market, Japan has been criticized as a major force in the destruction of the world's forests.

Japan is out of whack. A 61-year-old man in Nagano goes to walk his dog, and a bear comes out of the woods and kills him. In Toyama, astronomers are forced to close an observatory to visitors until ...

A new business is giving Japanese buildings slated for demolition a second life by shipping their timber frames to the U.S. for reconstruction. Its first project — a 120-year-old silk ...

Japanese companies are failing to keep illegally logged timber from entering their supply chains, international human rights and environmental watchdog Global Witness said in a report released ...