European Wood Day in Tokyo 2004 sponsored by the European Wood Initiative (EWI) took place on September 28 in Ichijo Hall at Tokyo University.　With relevance to the continuing increase in market share of European lumber in the Japanese market, the seminar drew in an audience of 245 people creating an exciting atmosphere.

The seminar with the theme "Wood Construction, Why Now? The Latest Information from Europe: Design, Environment, Structure, Material" began with opening remarks made by Jan S鰀erlind, Chairman of the EWI. He explained that the newly established EWI is a collaborative effort by lumber-related associations from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. The initial purpose of the EWI is to promote the export of lumber that has increasingly accumulated in Europe to the markets in Japan and China. He further explained that the EWI is attempting to represent all the European countries as one body in the same way that the United States and Canada are doing. He noted that as the supply of not only lumber but also laminated wood, plywood, and other products increases, the work in standardization matters will become more important. He added that he would like the EWI to take on a complementary role in this work.

Currently in the sustainable, managed forests in Europe, the amount of cultivated trees has surpassed the amount of trees cut for manufacturing at a rate of 3 to 2, so that the increase in the amount of exported lumber has become an extremely important concern. He pointed that lumber has less of an impact on the environment when compared to other materials. He also added that the amount of carbon dioxide emissions can be limited and that it can contribute to the prevention of global warming. Continuing the opening remarks, Hans Michael Offner, the president of the European Organization of the sawmill Industry (EOS), spoke about the superiority of using lumber as a building material. He added that when looking at the entire field of construction material, he would like to see the share of European lumber along with Japanese domestic lumber and imported lumber from other countries expand in the Japanese market.

Five presentations were made at the seminar: "Modern high quality glued timber roducts" by Simon Aicher, "Uses for Roasted Wood, Flooring and Panels: architectural and structural point view" by Baudouin de Montgolfier, "Practical experience of wood and timber building systems by examples of outstanding European timber projects" by Michael Keller, "European Wood Fa鏰de Competition expose. Reflections on how structure and fa鏰de interact" by Jan S鰀erlund, and "Performance and quality of modern timber construction systems" by Andrea Bernasconi. The presentations were introduced by three moderators: Professor Naoto Ando of Tokyo University, Professor Tetsuo Furuichi of Chiba Institute of Technology, and Professor Norihiko Kamata of Muroran Institute of Technology.

The presentations were followed by a panel discussion with the five presentation speakers and the three moderators participating as panellists. The panel discussion moderated by Miyoko Kitagawa of the Japan Lumber Journal was held as a question and answer forum allowing for questions from the audience. The topics of the questions covered a number of areas including the latest technology for the heat treatment of lumber, problems of fireproofing wooden structures, problems with exterior painting of wooden structures, and the possibility of European wood as a natural resource.