The Hokkaido Government’s Department of Fisheries and Forestry has compiled a report on the prefecture’s lumber market for March 2022. In it, Hokkaido’s average price for 1 m3 of lumber is calculated. In terms of materials, the price of large Sakhalin fir logs with a diameter of 30 to 38 cm and a length of 3.65 m rose 200 yen from the previous month to 13,700 yen. In lumber, the price of Yezo spruce and Sakhalin fir lumber (A- II), 10.5 cm each in thickness and width and 3.65 m in length, increased 400 yen from the previous month to 62,700 yen.

Well Smart Group (Ruize Jia, Director), a Singaporean real estate investment and development company, plans to develop a large-scale accommodation facility in the Iwaobetsu district of Kutchan Town. The plan includes the construction of 50 luxury villas and one hotel on a 20 ha-site. The company hopes to begin construction in 2023. A series of large-scale development projects have emerged in the surrounding area, showing that there is a huge appetite for investment, especially among China-based foreign investors, even amid the sharp decline in inbound tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shinrin GK (1-1, Kita 1-jo Nishi 1-chome, Kutchan), established by private investors from Singapore, plans to build 26 villas in the Yamada district of Kutchan Town. Land preparation is scheduled to begin in June, and the contractor will be decided in the future.

　スポーツなどの運動は健康維持に良いものであるという考えは、広く浸透しています。一方、生活習慣病が持病になっている人は、運動をすることが、かえって病気を悪化させるのではないかと考え、避けるようにしている人も多いと思います。しかし、最近発表された米国クリーブランドクリニックでの研究により、その考えは改めなければならないかもしれません。

　丸井今井函館店が4月25日に開業130周年を迎えた。インターネットショッピングの普及やコロナ禍など百貨店を取り巻く環境が大きく変化する中、函館丸井今井の橋淳央社長(57)に考えを聞いた。