For more than 3 million Tokyo residents who seasonally suffer from sniffly, sneezy kafunsho (pollen allergy), the sight of Gov. Shintaro Ishihara applying an ax to the trunk of a pollen-producing cedar back in 2006 was enough to bring tears of joy to their already itchy eyes.
"The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is going to do something about a problem that afflicts a quarter of the city's residents," said Ishihara (himself then a recent sufferer), before announcing that 1.8 million of the trees would be cut down over the next 10 years.
It sounded like a great idea.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.