[Damage of a bamboo] Japan may be covered with the wood of a bamboo.

It turned out by the investigation using the data of the artificial satellite that the area of the wood of a bamboo this year was expanded twice in Toyama Prefecture as compared with 1975. The influence of growth of other forests being barred by the wood of a bamboo has come out.
The wood of a bamboo is concentrated on the place near the colony where altitude is comparatively low. The wood of the bamboo which was there from the first spread out quickly. When it was before, collecting a bamboo shoot or making a handicraft using a bamboo was performed. These days, the opportunity to use the wood of a bamboo decreased and management of the wood of a bamboo was neglected. It is regarded as the main causes by which the woods of the bamboo increased in number.
[The area of the wood of a bamboo increased twice in 32 years. - November 19, 2008 The Yomiuri Shimbun Toyama version]

Probably, "damage of the bamboo" is a serious thing in Japanese various places.

It went to see the wood of the bamboo of Chiba Prefecture at work this year. When it looks at carefully, along a road and a riverbank have very many woods of the bamboo which was extended wild and became like a jungle.

It seems that the situation is getting worse rapidly although this is the problem which many people have been pointing out for some time fairly.

The following is the report about Chiba Prefecture written in May, this year.

The wood of the bamboo which became like a jungle is conspicuous in the mountain near a colony. Mr. Takeo Tashiro (65 years old) of NPO "meeting which studies bamboo" representation says, "It is the damage of a bamboo."
The bamboo shoot of a "moso bamboo" is extended in height also of 20m in summer. A day does not put the wood of a bamboo like a jungle, but its daytime is also dark. In the mountain invaded by the bamboo, a day does not hit, but trees wither and a wild bird and an insect disappear.
The bamboo shoot which grew in the wood of the neglected bamboo becomes the food of a wild boar, a deer, and a monkey. Those beasts also eat away the bamboo shoot of the mountain of the bamboo with which management was prudent.
According to the sphere of activity of the deer increasing in number, leech (Haemadipsa zeylanica japonica) which inhales people's blood spreads. In the both banks of isumigawa-river, a bamboo grows thick. A lot of bamboos which broke may close the flow of a river. The vicious circle has covered the mountain.
The production of a bamboo shoot cannot compete with a cheap Chinese bamboo shoot. The vermin damage by an animal. Aging of those who take care of the wood of a bamboo. Management is not prudent and the bamboo spreads everywhere.
[ Asahi Shimbun Chiba version May 16, 2008 ]