According to society's demand for the companies' commitment to the social responsibilities and public responsibilities, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is gaining increased attention. CSR is defined variously and even currently there is no definitive definition that can pinpoint what CSR is. This is due to the CSR concept emerging out of varying conditions depending on the individual country or region, and that it is also strongly subject to the backdrop of the period. This study targets the CSR in Japan. The purpose of this study is to clarify the significance of CSR activities, to describe the characteristics of forest-related activities of Japanese companies, and to discuss how the relationship between CSR and business should be. About the significance of CSR activities, the survey results are as follows: 1) The significance of CSR activities for companies includes to enhance their reputation and to establish their corporate brand. 2) CSR is unclear in its profitability despite its costliness in time and funds, and disregarding eco-efficiency, it falls short of evidence in how it may benefit the company. 3) The relationship between CSR and competitiveness is issues and the dialogues with diverse stakeholders become complex and unclear. 4) Japanese companies are especially inclined to view social contribution through business, namely the provision of products and services to the society, as CSR. Reflecting this view, CSR is referred to as "a social contribution through business; nothing out of the ordinary" in Japan. On the other hand, 62% of the companies have been involved in some kind of forest-related activities and much participation to forest-related activities in industries other than forestry and related industries. The objectives of investing in forest-related activities also varied from activities related to business operation such as materials procurement, to forest conservation, CSR, employee education, regional contribution and biodiversity conservation. So, these activities are more CSR-like in nature. These interests in forest-related activities are the characteristics of Japanese CSR activities. These survey results showed that the actual state could not be sufficiently captured in the CSR concept of "social contribution through lines of business." In conclusion, the current mainstream concept of CSR "social contribution through business" must be separated into the narrow sense and broader sense and defined individually. In order to promote environmental efforts including forest-related activities, CSR in the broader sense also needs to be evaluated and accordingly it must be incorporated into the core of the management strategy. In order to realize this, internal and external requests by the diverse stakeholders and new incentives would be necessary.