Japanese zelkova trees line the one-kilometer Omotesando Boulevard in Tokyo's Shibuya district. About 150 of these stately trees are bathed in champagne-gold hues thanks to almost a million LEDs.

With terraced rice fields and villages surrounded by groves of trees, the satoyama landscape from long ago is interwoven with the people's lives. In a part of a village, a huge Japanese zelkova ...