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April 28, 2024
 

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Mark Brazil

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Mark Brazil
Mark Brazil, a Briton based in Hokkaido, has written about the natural history of Japan in his Wild Watch column for over 30 years. After careers in conservation and natural history television, Mark taught for nine years at a university in Hokkaido before going freelance. He now travels the world as a lecturer and leader on wildlife-focused expeditions.
For Mark Brazil's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 15, 2012
Wild Watch turns 30 this month
As April 2nd's 30th anniversary of my first Wild Watch column in The Japan Times neared, I was in India — teeming Delhi to be precise, with its cacophony of people, honking traffic and barking dogs, though a tailorbird would stop and call outside my window, where a palm squirrel never tired of chattering.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 18, 2012
Birds of a feather
A crescent moon is just visible through the treetops, with Venus, Jupiter and Saturn aligned diagonally above it crisp and clear in a frost-sharpened sky — planetary heralds of the peppering of stars soon to be revealed as night falls.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 19, 2012
An ode to Japan's magnificent Sika Deer
Deep powdery snow is to a Sika Deer what a stage covered with fluffy feather pillows would be to a top-ranking ballerina. Both lead to loss of grace and floundering, for slim-footed deer and ballerina alike.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 15, 2012
Sealing a connection with nature
The cliff-ringed cape known as Notoro Misaki stands as a massive natural breakwater west of the city of Abashiri in northeastern Hokkaido, sheltering it from some of the might of the ocean.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 18, 2011
There's more to Christmas colors than meets the eye
The rotenburo (outdoor hot spring) that I most regularly frequent creates an excellent illusion of there always being a full moon bathing in its glow those soaking beneath.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 20, 2011
Sarobetsu's a stopover to count on for wonders
Gray predawn light suffuses the eastern horizon before crawling slowly across the landscape — but not before a rich clamoring reaches my ears.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 13, 2011
In the wake of the Vikings
At both its western and eastern extremes some 10,700 km apart in France and the Russian Far East respectively, the great, fused supercontinent of Eurasia breaks into fragments, into not quite matching fringes of islands.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 16, 2011
In the pink down on the Rio Negro
Agreat splash, sounding as if a sumo wrestler had just belly-flopped into a swimming pool, echoed up through the wooden floor of my cabin. Yes, the floor.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 18, 2011
Reflecting on icons of 'cute'
Although watching wildlife is not for everyone, countless hordes of visitors flock to zoos when tiger cubs or a Giant Panda baby first go on show, when penguins are on parade, or when young animals are present in the petting section. Why is that?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 21, 2011
A blood donor to the masses
The bug days are here again. Shades of green are deepening in the debilitating heat of a summer that's made more of a hardship this year due to the post-March 11 energy-saving efficiencies required of us.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 17, 2011
Green is good for you — and the Earth
My work often takes me away from my home in Hokkaido, and with every absence I am irked to be missing out on some part of the inexorable seasonal advance. So, each time I return I make a beeline for my local forest to reacquaint myself with the resident and migrant birds, to trace the tracks and signs of the mammals and to admire the rapidly shifting kaleidoscope of colors in the flowers and leaves.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 19, 2011
Of predators and prey
The forest floor is a maze, a tangle, an adventure — all depending on one's scale.
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2011
Serendipities at every turn on this island 'pearl'
The sound of Buddhist chanting grew louder as my travel companions and I entered the compound around the "temple," where flickering torches lit the smiling faces of sedately circling monks as the warm tones of their voices carried through the impenetrable darkness on a chilling, flag-fluttering breeze.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 15, 2011
Japan's mammalian riches
I came across my first bumblebees of the season as they were busily draining the nectar from a broad swath of Blue Corydalis. The delicate flower stems nodding in a light breeze looked delightful in the sunshine, while above them frothy willow catkins were yellow with pollen and here and there birches were presenting hints of fresh green.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 20, 2011
The green heart of Tokyo
An unexpected whickering whistle had me mystified. I circled, trying to pinpoint the direction it was coming from, and puzzled over its origin.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 16, 2011
A dream comes true with the blues
My last great wildlife adventure of 2010 began in darkness to the sound of waves crashing on an idyllic beach.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 19, 2010
The explosion of life: demise
Second of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 12, 2010
Brazil: the wild side
Statistics tell us one story of Brazil: It is the world's fifth-largest country and South America's largest by far, and it is an anomaly in being the only Portuguese-speaking nation on that continent.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 21, 2010
The explosion of life: uprising
First of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010
Biodiversity inspiration
The value of biodiversity can be argued from various perspectives. Foremost, in practical terms, there's its ecological service value, as we depend on it to provide us with breathable air, useable water and productive soil, for filtration of global gases and liquids, and as the resource for all of our agriculture and much of our construction — not to mention its critical role in global temperature regulation.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Air China to buy 100 locally made C919 jets in $11 billion deal
A Comac C919 during an aerial display at the Singapore Airshow at Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore in February
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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