Yoshifumi Miyazaki
A leading Japanese researcher of shinrin-yoku, and a source for how the term arose.
1 min read · Updated 11 November 2026 · Last checked 11 November 2026
Life and work #
Miyazaki is a leading shinrin-yoku researcher. In an interview he gives 1982 and Akiyama Tomohide, then head of the Forestry Agency, for the coining of the term, and 1990 for the first physiological experiments.1
He says he coined ‘forest therapy’ in 2003 for shinrin-yoku backed by scientific data.2
He led, with Bum-Jin Park and colleagues, a widely cited set of field experiments in 24 Japanese forests, published around 2010, which found lower cortisol, pulse rate and blood pressure after forest walks than after city walks.3
What to be careful about #
Most of this page rests on one interview and one paper. The field studies were small, and an interview is one person’s account.
On this site #
See also: Qing Li, Roger Ulrich.
Notes
- 'Miyazaki Yoshifumi Explores the Healing Power of the Forest' (interview), nippon.com. An interview is not a history, so treat the dates as his account. ↩
- Miyazaki, nippon.com interview. ↩
- Bum Jin Park, Yuko Tsunetsugu, Tamami Kasetani, Takahide Kagawa and Yoshifumi Miyazaki, 'The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan', Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine 15 (2010), 18–26. ↩
Modern works cited
- Bum Jin Park, Yuko Tsunetsugu, Tamami Kasetani, Takahide Kagawa and Yoshifumi Miyazaki, 'The physiological effects of Shinrin-yoku (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing): evidence from field experiments in 24 forests across Japan', Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine 15 (2010), 18–26 — read online
The best-known field experiment. Open access. - 'Miyazaki Yoshifumi Explores the Healing Power of the Forest' (interview), nippon.com — read online
Miyazaki is a leading shinrin-yoku researcher. The interview gives 1982 and Akiyama Tomohide, then head of the Forestry Agency, for the coining of the term, and 1990 for the first physiological experiments. An interview is not a history, so treat the dates as his account.
Cite this page. The Garden, ‘Yoshifumi Miyazaki’, https://camelmaps.org/garden/person.php, last updated 11 November 2026, last checked 11 November 2026. What has changed.