A streaming service that lets you feel closer to nature"Forest Notes"

Forest Notes is a streaming service that lets you feel closer to nature

"Forest Notes" is a service that delivers live audio and video of forests in Japan. Through 24/365 live streaming, it provides an opportunity to feel closer to nature, something that is difficult to experience in urban life.

JVC Kenwood Design handles everything from project planning to installation, construction, and maintenance of the distribution system, web design, social media management, and application development.

Forest Notes

Watch the video on YouTube

"You feel the forest. You want to cherish it."

The launch of "Forest Notes" dates back to 2008, a time when the practice of eco-design was gaining increasing attention, and efforts were being made in the field of product design to use recycled materials and reduce power consumption. This service was born out of roughly a year of discussions among designers at JVCKENWOOD Design, who were looking for a different approach to eco-design that could appeal to people's hearts and engage with their emotions.

When Forest Notes launched in 2013, its service concept was "Feel the forest. Want to cherish it." Leveraging the strengths of the JVC Kenwood Group in audio, video, and communication technologies, the service aims to deliver audio and video that allows people to feel closer to nature, thereby providing an opportunity for urban dwellers, who have few opportunities to interact with nature, to become more aware of environmental conservation.

A deer standing in a winter forest. A brown deer peeking out from between the trees. There is still snow on the ground.

Winter forest landscape with snow-covered ground and sunlight filtering through bare trees and blue sky.

Promoting the appeal of the region through co-creation with local governments

Currently, Forest Notes is live streaming audio from microphones installed in five locations - Shiretoko Shari Town, Hokkaido; Juuniko Fukaura Town, Shirakami-Sanchi, Aomori Prefecture; Hayakawa Town, Southern Alps, Yamanashi Prefecture; Hida Takayama, Gifu Prefecture; and Morotsuka Village, Miyazaki Prefecture - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as well as footage from 360-degree cameras installed in two locations - Shiretoko and Okutama, Tokyo.

To install microphones and cameras in the forests of each region, it was essential to work closely with local governments and forest managers. We received cooperation from village offices, tourist associations, and IT and electrical equipment companies for the maintenance of the equipment, and in addition to contacting them when any malfunctions were found, designers from JVCKENWOOD Design visit the sites approximately every two years to replace and maintain the equipment.

We have been working with Morotsuka Village in Miyazaki Prefecture, one of the distribution locations, as a partner since 2011 to promote this service, and have carried out a variety of co-creation activities based on Forest Notes activities. To date, we have been involved in a variety of projects that will revitalize Morotsuka Village and revitalize the local area, such as producing a photo book featuring Morotsuka Village's natural scenery and cooperating with the village's elementary school students on a field trip to Tokyo. In 2019, we signed a "Collaboration Agreement on Regional Co-creation and Regional Revitalization Activities" with JVC Kenwood Design. We plan to continue providing on-site experiences, discovering further local attractions through dialogue, and linking this to new activities for disseminating information.

A lecturer uses a large display in a classroom to show an image of a purple forest to three seated audience members wearing masks.

Communicating the ever-changing state of nature and wildlife

In addition to live audio and video streaming, this project also focuses on disseminating information that will allow service users to feel closer to nature.

In the forests broadcast by Forest Notes, in the spring you can hear the chirping of migratory birds and observe wild animals such as foxes and bears passing by. One of the great attractions of this service is that it allows viewers to experience the ever-changing nature throughout the year and the ecology of the animals that live there. Forest Notes' social media accounts post information about the birds and animals that visit during live broadcasts, and the service continues to communicate this information to help viewers feel closer to nature.

A brown bear walking through a forest, surrounded by trees and grass on the ground.

As an in-house project that gives designers opportunities to come into contact with nature

Forest Notes was launched as a joint venture with JVC Kenwood when the service was launched in 2013, but was relaunched in 2018 as an independent project by JVC Kenwood Design.

By engaging in co-creation activities with Morotsuka Village and other local communities, and by visiting each area when replacing and maintaining equipment, we are creating opportunities for our in-house designers to come into contact with nature, which is helping to foster awareness of sustainability in the designs they regularly work on.

Furthermore, the forests where the broadcasting equipment is installed are an environment where temperatures alternate between scorching hot and freezing throughout the year, and the insights gained through trial and error to improve the durability and reliability of the equipment through this project will be used in the development of communication and video equipment to be used in extreme conditions.