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May 02, 2024
 

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WILD WATCH

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 21, 2010
Singing the praises of sparrows
In a rush of small wings, a fluttering, chirruping, congregation of familiar birds — Eurasian tree sparrows — descended on the bush in front of me. They chattered noisily among themselves, each shifting its position almost constantly as if unsure whether it had the right to be on any given perch.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 17, 2010
'Tigers' and naturalists of many stripes
I enter the forest and soon the rhythmic swish-swish of my skis over the snow mesmerizes me. This is my first foray of the new year in Hokkaido, making tracks in the lowland forest of Nopporo close to home just east of Sapporo.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 20, 2009
Tuning in to Alaskan bears
With temperatures falling steadily, amazing things are happening in the natural world.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 15, 2009
Notable memories and ones forgotten
On my most recent journey overseas, to southern Brazil, a fellow traveler gave me a large Moleskine-brand notebook. Though grateful for the present, at first I was uncertain what to do with it. I generally use a particular-size pocket notebook to write up all my field observations, and this new acquisition clearly wasn't going to fit into my pocket.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 18, 2009
Wildlife on your doorstep
To be brutally honest, wildlife photography is mostly about having the means to get to amazing places, where wildlife still abounds. Then it takes heaps of patience. And the final ingredient is a good eye to capture the moment.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 20, 2009
U.K. birders' fair shows we can all help save even LBJs
"Life works by making lots and lots of different kinds of living things, and every one we lose impoverishes us and the world. Every single species, obscure or common, funny or dull, gorgeous or LBJ [the bird-watchers' abbreviation for "Little Brown Job"], is a strand in the web of life: every time we break a strand, we bring the web closer to busting. Every species matters.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 20, 2009
U.K. birders' fair shows we can all help save even LBJs
"Life works by making lots and lots of different kinds of living things, and every one we lose impoverishes us and the world. Every single species, obscure or common, funny or dull, gorgeous or LBJ [the bird-watchers' abbreviation for "Little Brown Job"], is a strand in the web of life: every time we break a strand, we bring the web closer to busting. Every species matters.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 16, 2009
Back where they belong
High in the fork of a tall tree on a wooded slope close to narrow rice paddies on Sado Island in the Sea of Japan off Nigata Prefecture was a flimsy, ragged nest made of twigs.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 19, 2009
Tune in to nature's sounds
The phenomenal diversity of Japan, in its landscapes, climates, ecosystems, fauna and flora, has enthralled me for more than a quarter of a century. For part of each year I am extremely fortunate to be able to travel the length and breadth of the country seeking out its wilder places in order to experience the unique nature of Japan and to write about those experiences.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 21, 2009
'Spotted snakes, with double tongue'
In ages past we humans relied on natural phenomena and omens from nature to guide us in our understanding of seasonal events and our attempts to make predictions about the uncertain future.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 17, 2009
Mayhem, madness and bumps in the night
Picture this: Darkness; a strong wind blowing; fog thickening and swirling; the ceaseless crashing of waves against a rocky shore. Not a night for nature observation you may think, but think again.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 19, 2009
A rip and a burp and the land is ours
It's that time of year when Japan's media are meticulously monitoring the iconic cherry-blossom front as it passes up through the archipelago in a wave of warming temperatures and bursting buds.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 15, 2009
Icy white 'blossoms' and a flourish of deep pink
Each day last week I strapped on cross-country skis to patrol some trails quartering the primeval, 2,050-hectare Nopporo Forest adjoining Sapporo.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 15, 2009
Celebrating a life with cranes
In the dim gray light just before a winter's dawn, a wash of sound emanates from some 12,000 tall, long-necked and long-legged birds as they awake in the fields of rural Kyushu.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 18, 2009
Karori: A wildlife sanctuary for our times
A new year has begun, signs of change abound, and this column has migrated to a new page. The economic crises of 2008 are still with us and the nightmare of global climate shock is not one that we can awaken from. But among all this there are signs of hope.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 17, 2008
In praise of 'Ice Birds'
The rush, chatter and babble of a stream on a summer's day is a great delight; the constantly shifting sounds make entrancing music and provide a wonderful source of entertainment for the wait-and-see naturalist.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 19, 2008
Sweet dreams in the forest
A gray wall of cloud is sweeping away my view, and the color is being leached from the mountains beyond Sapporo as the drabness of an early winter evening descends. A week of falling mercury, winds from the north and rainfall have whisked away most of this autumn's browning leaves. We seem to have been short-changed this year and the palette of autumnal colors, usually so vibrant, has been as lackluster as the economy. There is hardship ahead, and in more ways than one.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 15, 2008
Let them eat whales!
Whales once fueled the industrialized world. First there was wood, then coal fired its steam engines alongside seal oil and whale oil that powered and lit the age of "dark satanic mills."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 17, 2008
Przewalski's Horses running free in Mongolia
Imagine, if you can, the prehistoric cave-wall images of Lascaux in France springing to life, the animal likenesses breaking free of their multimillennia entrapment in pigment and rock.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 20, 2008
Birds' heaven and hell
It is August already, and it's a matter of life and death for certain seabirds. While southern species will already have run the gauntlet of the gulls, in the north it's happening now.
'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.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
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.

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