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July 16, 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.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 10, 2013
Giving the children of Fukushima a place to play is not easy
The Fukushima Aiikuen orphanage sits on 7 hectares of wooded hills — that's about the area of 15 or 16 soccer pitches — on the outskirts of the city of Fukushima. There's an outdoor sports field, a campsite and plenty of lawns for the 91 children living there to play on. In the two years since the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WEEK 3
Feb 17, 2013
Fukushima radiation threatens to wreak woodland havoc
For Yuji Hoshino, mushrooms were a way of life. The 50-year-old farmer grew up watching his father raise shiitake mushrooms on their land at the foot of the mountains in Sano, southern Tochigi Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 19, 2013
Zen and the cross-cultural art of tree-climbing
...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 15, 2012
Farmers try to fence out nasty nature
I once asked a professor of agriculture in the southwestern United States what sort of fence would keep a goat from escaping.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 22, 2012
Chernobyl expert takes a look at Tohoku's trees
Somewhere between downtown Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture, and the village of Ogisu an hour's drive to the northeast, Dr. Tatsuhiro Ohkubo pulls over to buy a box of sakura mochi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 22, 2012
Matsumoto in May means 'crafts '
England gave the world the Windsor chair, but it was the city of Matsumoto in central Nagano Prefecture that reinvented it for Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 25, 2011
Behold! Christ's grave in Shingo, Aomori Prefecture
One line of text from Wikipedia was all it took to lure me to the town of Shingo, in south-central Aomori Prefecture. It read: "The village promotes itself as the home of the Grave of Christ after a local legend."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 23, 2011
Hachinohe's markets serve up feasts in the streets
Two hundred and sixty-two years ago, the feudal domain of Hachinohe was besieged by wild boars. The Wild Boar Famine that resulted, writes environmental historian Brett Walker in his recent book "Toxic Archipelago," was the result of "the perfect ecological storm."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WEEK 3
Aug 21, 2011
Three Mile Island's lessons for Japan
In the early hours of March 28, 1979, human errors and mechanical failures combined to cause a cooling system to stop working at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. One of the station's two nuclear cores overheated, thrusting the plant into a crisis that would...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 24, 2011
Powering Japan's future
Last year, Japan produced close to one quadrillion watt-hours of electricity — that's 1 followed by 15 zeros. The vast majority of that — which translates into one billion megawatt hours (MWh) — came from coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants operated by 10 utilities that, only...
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 24, 2011
Distribution gridlock restricts renewables
Dial the clock forward a decade or so, and Japan will be getting a lot more of its electricity from renewable resources and a lot less from nuclear power and fossil fuels — that is, if you go by recent government announcements proclaiming 2011 an energy watershed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 12, 2011
Enjoy art with alpine views
Back in the 1960s, a New York postal worker named Herbert Vogel and his librarian wife, Dorothy, began buying paintings. Using Herb's modest salary, and living off Dorothy's, they picked out affordable pieces that took their fancy — most of them by artists unknown at the time. By the early '90s,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 17, 2011
Isles of imperial exile where nature is king
Geology buffs take note. "By understanding the Oki Islands, you can understand how the Japanese archipelago was formed."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 13, 2011
Traditional paddies are great ecosystems
Japan's rice-farming areas face two broad trends: field abandonment and farm modernization. Both impact the environment as well as the economy.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 13, 2011
Japan as a rice culture? Not so quick, says anthropologist
What could be more Japanese than rice? Without the pearly white grain there would be no mochi (rice cakes) at New Year's or sake at shrines, no sushi, no lunchtime onigiri (rice balls), no verdant paddies to mark summer in the countryside.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 13, 2011
Has rice farming passed its expiry date in Japan?
Atsuo Aoki doesn't appear to be an irrational man. At 52, he works in the banking division of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative (JA) in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, an old castle city at the foot of the Japan Alps about three hours by rail north of Tokyo. He lives there with his wife and three children...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010
COP10: A meet to save life on Earth?
The next time someone asks you what biodiversity is, try this: "It's about your life, life on this planet, and about what we're doing to this planet with our eyes open."
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010
Nagoya event can feel far distant from nature
I have been in Nagoya attending the U.N. biodiversity confrence, COP10, for nearly a week now (two if you count the pre-COP10 meeting on biosafety, MOP 5), and I think it's safe to say I haven't heard mention of an actual animal or plant yet.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010
Some participants' hopes for COP10
The Japan Times asked delegates and other COP10 participants what their top priorities are at the conference. Many mentioned an Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Protocol that is currently the subject of intense negotiations. This would determine how companies and researchers gain access to and distribute...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010
Key facts and figures
Key data drawn from numerous quoted sources here succinctly suggest the enormous range of problems and issues facing delegates to COP10 — and the world.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
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