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May 02, 2024
 

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Winifred Bird

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Winifred Bird
Freelance environmental journalist Winifred Bird writes for publications including The Japan Times, Dwell, and the Christian Science Monitor. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in rural Nagano Prefecture with her husband, dog and flock of ducks.
For Winifred Bird's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 19, 2010
Rustic building fest spans two continents
Back in early August, as families across Japan were beginning to plan trips to their hometowns during the upcoming Obon holidays, Hannes Schnelle of Sarenseck, Germany, and 26 fellow Europeans were preparing for a Japanese journey of their own.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 22, 2010
Sarufutsu: As far north as you can go in Japan
If you're trying to get to Sarufutsu in a hurry, the best way is to fly into Wakkanai, a blustery little fishing town on the extreme northern tip of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, then rent a car or take the bus east. From Tokyo the whole trip takes just over three hours.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 27, 2010
Asahiyama's natural touch
Ivan the polar bear has been having relationship problems recently.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 27, 2010
Ongaeshi Project aims to give back to nature
Asahiyama Zoo's Jack, Lianne and 3-year-old Morito have whispy red fur, long graceful hands and eyes that are as searchingly intelligent as many a pair on the other side of their cage. These Borneo orangutans are likely the most frequently viewed members of their species in Japan — yet until last year, the zoo had no direct link with Borneo itself. Then they received a visit from Toshinori Tsubouchi, director of the nonprofit Borneo Conservation Trust Japan.
LIFE
Jun 27, 2010
Predator-prey relationships play large part in zoo's setup
For animals in the wild, life is defined by the relationship between predator and prey — but incorporating that dynamic into zoos can be extremely difficult.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 30, 2010
Grad-school boom for all
When Wakayama University set up a new masters program in economics last year at its Kishiwada satellite campus, 34-year-old financial planner Kenji Yoshida said he felt like "they created the program just for me."
LIFE
May 30, 2010
By definition, who are 'adult learners' anyway?
Defining "adult learners" isn't easy. After all, youths in Japan can vote and drink at the age of 20, yet when attending university they are not considered adults.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 30, 2010
Pearl farmers look to satoumi to save their way of life
One bright blue February afternoon, Akira Harajo stood on a concrete pier and surveyed Mie Prefecture's Ago Bay. With dyed black hair, a zippered sports shirt and immaculate V-neck sweater, Harajo, 75, hardly looked the part of the farmer that he is. Then again, his crop isn't exactly ordinary: Harajo grows jewels.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 30, 2010
How can it get too late to learn?
Professor Ryusuke Yoneyama was in the middle of explaining to the members of his music-production class why Baroque-era violin bows, which resembled loosely strung archery bows, produced a weaker sound than their contemporary counterparts when he paused to ask a question.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 30, 2010
Entrance exam hell at 28
Six years ago, a 28-year-old former child-care assistant named Michiru Hanai decided she wanted to go to university to get a teacher's license.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 17, 2010
Learning old ways to build for today
For lovers of traditional Japanese architecture, a visit to Akihisa Kitamori's laboratory at the Kyoto University Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH) would likely evoke similar emotions to those felt by an animal-rights activist in a cosmetics test lab full of tormented rabbits.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 20, 2009
Waking up to a shipwreck
It's not every morning that a 169-meter-long ship gets knocked over by a giant wave and lands like a beached whale virtually outside the front door of your quiet seaside home.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 29, 2009
Mystery lure of woodland lords
When Hideyuki Yoshizawa goes into the woods, he doesn't wear the usual silver bells meant to scare off bears. He's given up smoking, too, to eliminate that tell-tale human smell. That's because he wants more than anything else to meet a bear in the forest.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 29, 2009
Fighting to return forests to nature
Just about everyone agrees that the postwar expansion of plantation forestry and the fragmentation of natural old-growth forests by roads, dams and tourist facilities play a central role in Japan's current bear problem. The Japan Bear and Forest Association (JBFA) is one national organization directly addressing those issues.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 29, 2009
Bearing the brunt
In a log cabin high on a wooded mountainside in Hiroshima Prefecture, Kazuhiko Maita, 61-year-old director of the nonprofit Institute for Asian Black Bear Research and Preservation, is puzzling over the fate of Japan's black bears.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 18, 2009
Power for all the people
The all-electric home craze sweeping Japan with its typhoon of talking bathtubs, full-service toilets and flameless kitchens may finally have met its match.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 23, 2009
Japan's creeping natural disaster
In October 2010, government officials from almost every country in the world will meet in Nagoya for the 10th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10). The aim of the Convention, which came into effect in 1993, is simple but momentous: To maintain the richness of life on earth.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 15, 2009
Recommendations from a Japanese cheese expert
Keiko Kubota selected and prepared the cheeses served at the 2008 G8 summit in Hokkaido. A cheese sommelier and the manager of Restaurant Gentil in Shizuoka City, Kubota has written two books on how to become a cheese sommelier and is on the board of the Cheese Professional Association of Japan. Here she shares her recommendations of great Japanese cheeses:
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 15, 2009
Japan embraces the big cheese
Ask the experts what makes a good cheese, and at some point the conversation is going to get down to grass. After all, cheese comes from milk, and the best milk comes from animals raised on grass.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 22, 2009
Oceans awash in toxic seas of plastic
Umbrella handles. Pens. Popsicle sticks. Lots and lots of toothbrushes. These are just a few of the items that make up the approximately 13 million sq. km Eastern Garbage Patch, an immense plastic soup in the Pacific Ocean that starts about 800 km off the coast of California and extends westward. Sucked from the coasts of Asia and America by ocean currents, or discarded at sea, plastic debris accumulates there in an ever-growing mass that does not biodegrade and is said to be already larger than the United States.
'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.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
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 vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
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.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
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.

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