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May 02, 2024
 

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WILD WATCH

ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 30, 2000
Feeling the pulse of the seasons
Recently, and for the first time, I flew right across Australia. Heading northwest from New Zealand, I crossed Australia's southeast coast somewhere south of Sydney and traversed the country northwest to the coast near Broome.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 16, 2000
Fat a question of feathers for shearwaters
The fact that young animals and birds not only start off small, but remain smaller than their parents for a long time, seems to be a dominant rule of life. Think of fox or badger cubs, think of young sparrows or bulbuls -- from birth, or hatching, and for some time after they remain smaller than their parents. The cygnets of the whooper swans that migrate to Japan each winter, though capable of the arduous migration, are still noticeably smaller than their parents six months after hatching, an age by which most small birds will be indistinguishable from their parents both in size and in plumage.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 2, 2000
Little terns face big problem
Graceful and agile in the air, the terns are the slender cousins of the gulls. Where the gulls typically lumber and flap, the terns flutter and dash. Terns may hover, and with the sun behind them, shining through their translucent wing feathers, they appear like tiny angels.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 19, 2000
Hats on where the seabirds nest
Wheesh! Crack! Something furious hit me on the back of the head.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 5, 2000
Migrants and vagrants under Teuri's crags
An hour and a half west of the small harbor town of Haboro, which is just three hours north of Sapporo, lie two small islands: Teuri and Yagishiri. Teuri is easy to visit and has fascinating seabird colonies and good walking. There is a ferry from Haboro, which goes via Yagishiri, and although there is a faster tourist boat that cuts the travel time by 30 minutes or so, the ferry is a more interesting ride.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 21, 2000
The little known giants of the Kalahari
The fine red sand of the Kalahari, dampened by the early morning dew, reveals the tracks of nocturnal and early morning wanderers. The heat of the rising sun soon turns the sand powder dry and the tracks blow away on the slightest breeze, but for those who are out early there are strange stories to be read in the sand.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 31, 2000
A royal reserve of nature
It is a rare occasion, in a busy schedule, that allows me to spend a whole morning doing almost nothing, but this is one of those times. As I write, I am enjoying the sunshine and the view from the roof of a stone summer house. My sleeping quarters are down below, cool in the shade, but those I have abandoned in favor of the roof, for its view out across Junia Lake in India's Rajasthan Province.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 17, 2000
Wild and free, within certain restrictions
"Wildlife," "natural," "wild" and "free" are terms that are loaded with meaning, redolent with atmosphere. They are words that may transport you mentally to the tundra, patrolled by polar bears, to the acacia-dotted African savanna across which herds of buffalo, gazelle, elephant and giraffe roam, or to the cathedral stillness of a Borneo rain forest, where gibbons hoot their dawn chorus and great orange apes move methodically in four-limbed brachiation. "Wildlife," "natural," "wild" and "free" are words that, for me, conjure up everything that is not tamed, domesticated, trapped or tethered by man.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 2, 2000
Natural genki drink fuels aerial pollinators
For most of our planet's mind-numbingly long history of around 4.6 billion years, the most complex life form on Earth was the prokaryotic cell. The ghostly signatures of these simple cells without nuclei first appear in rocks dated to about 3.75 billion years ago. The length of their nearly 2-billion-year reign on Earth, though not their complexity, makes our own brief history seem as fleeting as the barely noticeable flicker of a neon light tube.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 19, 2000
Too harsh for humans, perfect for birds
Think of the automobile and which country comes to mind first? America, of course.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 5, 2000
Nemuro rolling down a road to nowhere
We may think of America as the land of the automobile, but for a place that both produces them and is constantly involved in road works for them, we need look no further than Japan.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 1, 1999
Built to last long winters of discontent
One of the most fascinating crossroads on earth lies to the northeast of Japan. The ancient Bering land bridge used to span the current Bering Straits, connecting the land masses of Siberia and Alaska into one vast continent and enabling a traffic of plants, animals and even people to exchange across the low-lying ground between Eurasia and North America.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 17, 1999
On the mystery of the mooses, or meese
One of the basic rules of biodiversity is that species diversity increases toward the tropics and decreases toward the poles.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 3, 1999
How to read a bird's lifestyle in its feet
A reflexologist will tell you that feet reveal a great deal about a person's physical state, and that cures can be administered via the feet.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 20, 1999
Ducking out for a nature moment
Among the smaller waterfowl, there are basically two types: There are ducks that dive, and there are those that dabble. Diving ducks, such as the tufted duck, scaup, scoter, harlequin and long-tailed duck, are birds of open, deep water, birds of lakes, coasts and the open ocean. Dabbling ducks, on the other hand, are birds of ponds and streams, shallow lakes and marshes. Some of them can be seen in considerable concentrations in Japan during the winter.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 6, 1999
When trappers outfoxed the Bering islands
The red fox is a familiar creature here in Japan, but travel northward and it is soon replaced by another species. At higher latitudes, the arctic or polar fox is the ubiquitous hardy scavenger and predator. It is better adapted to the colder conditions, with a shorter muzzle, smaller ears and a thicker, denser coat than the red fox. It is about three quarters the size of a red fox, and unlike that animal, it has fur on the soles of its feet, which give it excellent insulation throughout the winter while foraging across snow- and ice-covered habitats.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 15, 1999
Roaming the world's watery dunes
As the typhoon season cuts between summer and autumn, many species are on the move. This is the season of migration for land birds and seabirds. While the land birds island-hop between Northeast and Southeast Asia, some of the seabirds are embarking on journeys that may span entire oceans. Streaked shearwaters around Japan, for example, will be heading off as far as Australia.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 1, 1999
The water is wide, I cannot get o'er
The mammals of the Nansei Shoto may be inconspicuous and difficult to observe, but their distribution, and the relationships between the different species and populations in these islands, provides insight into the past history of the archipelago. This interesting mixture of animals has links in the north to Honshu and in the south to Taiwan and the Asian continent. Unique forms have evolved locally, especially in the central islands of the archipelago.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 18, 1999
Refuge of the world's wildest rabbit
The wildlife of the Nansei Shoto is a fascinating mixture of species, and as is clear from recent research on the spiny rats that are unique to the central islands, there may be more species there than we realize.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 4, 1999
Islands of diversity and divergence
Although the islands of New Zealand, which I wrote about last time, are fascinating, we don't need to travel so far to find isolated islands supporting interesting biodiversity. Japan's own southern archipelago, straggling from Kyushu toward Taiwan, known as the Nansei Shoto, is so rich in both flora and fauna, and such a fine example of the effects of isolation, that the islands have quite rightly been called the Asian Galapagos.
'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.

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

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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