Produced by wood homebuilder Aqura Home Co., Ltd., the wood straw is made by slicing thinned wood into 0.15-milimeter-thick sheets. Recently, Japan has been experiencing serious damages caused by landslides due to a succession of natural disasters, and inadequate forest management is said to be one of the contributing factors. Compared with finished timber, the use of timber obtained from forest thinning is more limited as they are thin and immature. Moreover, the availability of cheap imported wood has also led to a significant decrease in demand. By introducing the use of wood straws made of domestic timber containing thinned wood, the company aims at promoting the use of thinned wood which would contribute to a sustainable forest management, and hopefully lessen the impact from natural disasters. In addition, wood straws can be an eco-friendly alternative to plastic straws and therefore can also help address plastic pollution, which is a serious global environmental problem. The idea of shaving the wood thinly was inspired by Japan’s unique technique called “kanna-kezuri,” which uses a traditional woodworking hand planer for surface finishing of wood. The company hopes to promote Japanese technology as well as forest and marine conservation through a single wood straw by encouraging people to think about the environment through a familiar item.