Japanese elm (Ulmus davidiana var. japonica) is a native species in cool temperate forests in Japan. We investigated growth, physiological reactions, and leaf defense capacity of Japanese elm seedlings under nitrogen (N) loading (45.3 kg N ha -1 yr -1 ) and seasonal insect dynamics in a free-air ozone (O3)-enriched environment (about 54.5 nmol O3 mol -1 ) over a growing season. Higher leaf N content and lower condensed tannin content under N loading and lower condensed tannin content in elevated O3 were observed, suggesting that both N loading and elevated O3 decreased the leaf defense capacity and that N loading further enhanced the leaf quality as food resource of insect herbivores. Two major herbivores were observed on the plants, elm leaf-beetle (Pyrrhalta maculicollis) and elm sawfly (Arge captiva). The peak number of observed insects was decreased by N loading. Visible foliar injury caused by N loading might directly induce the reduction of number of the observed elm sawfly individuals. While elevated O3 slightly suppressed the chemical defense capacity, significantly lower number of elm leaf-beetle was observed in elevated O3. We conclude that N loading and elevated O3 can alter not only the leaf defense capacity of Japanese elm seedlings, but also the dynamics of elm leaf-beetle and sawfly herbivores.