Bizarre satalite photo of rural Japan

[Buffalonian2 6]

Not sure which sub forum to place this topic, it's city-building related but not tied to a particular game.

I was browsing google maps as I often do before firing up Cities:Skylines, and I came across this image in the Hokkaido region of Japan:

 

That grid looking pattern is not roads, it's forests. What the hell? I've never seen anything like that before, certainly not in rural America. What's it's purpose, and is there a name for this type of rural planning? I assume it's related to the fact that Japan has such limited space, and I know they had a problem with deforestation due to WWII, just hypothesis.

Here's another photo, zoomed out a bit, just to show it's scale (those are thick forests).

[LexusInfernus 908]

Some countries in Europe place patches of trees between fields, especially farm fields. It protects the fields from wind erosion I think, because the trees essentially block of the wind. 

 

However, its usually like a line of 1-2 trees wide, these patches of forest seem much thicker. So maybe it serves another purpose here as well. Perhaps it serves as an animal way as well (allowing animals safe passage through the forested areas)?

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Take a look at the hedgerows of Normandy and parts of England.  The spacers are often between fields and often roads run between the hedgerows.  Must make driving difficult if there is no good signage.

[Buffalonian2 6]

I thought of that Nonny, but as Lexus noted, these patches are not only a few trees thick; these are swaths of forest. If you go to google maps and look at a satellite view of Normandy (or anywhere in Europe for that matter), then go to this region of Japan at the same zoom level, you'll see they look vastly different.

I've been randomly strolling around google maps and I'm yet to find a  region outside of Japan that replicates this, though I've admittedly only skimmed the globe. I'm convinced that there's a special reason they do this in Japan. The animal-way is a good idea, I feel like there's more to it though?

[Buffalonian2 6]

Well, I probably should have done more due diligence. I did some research and came up with interesting stuff. Apparently, this design is unique to the Hokkaido region of Japan. It became 'famous' when astronaut Mamoru Mori photographed it from the space shuttle in 2001. As Lexus correctly guessed, it's a wind break, but also designed to protect cattle from blizzards.

More interesting facts and photos here:

http://ovalmaidan.blogspot.com/2010/07/gazeteer-hokkaidos-grids.html

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1162609

[LexusInfernus 908]

Just so you know the first link (blogspot one) goes to this thread.

[RipRap 4,400]

They are windbreakers. Fortunately, my friend from that same area in Hokkaido explained why they use those wind breakers. First, it gives comfort when the mix of Pacific Ocean weather and Arctic weather converge into the area and dump heavy amounts of snowfall. The amount of trees are much thicker because it gives them more available spaces to move around in the winter, because imagine digging 100cm of it in 1 day

And yeah, it also protect cattle and people from the cold Hokkaido weather.

[A Nonny Moose 8,263]

Is there not also in that area a move to farm without clearing the land?  I saw something in the last year or so about an agronomist who seeds crops randomly in the forest and has had some success.