Their priorities were selling products at a high price and harvesting as much as possible," said Shinichiro Saito, a 60-year-old rice farmer.įarmers were asked to cut chemical fertilisers and pesticides by half from the level allowed by local rules, but there was pushback.įewer chemicals meant smaller harvests, lost income, and more weeding.Īnd some farmers couldn't see the point of other proposals like underground channels connecting rice fields to rivers to increase the flow of aquatic life. "Back then people didn't think about the environment when farming. The creation of a premium "toki-friendly" rice brand encouraged farmers to back conservation efforts Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP Other birds arrived from China, and with time Sado had a large enough population to consider reintroducing the toki to the wild.īut first they had to tackle the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides on Sado. You You and Yang Yang arrived the following year on first-class seats, producing their first chick months later in an event that led national television broadcasts. Sado's captive birds failed to mate, but China's programme had more success, and when then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin made a historic first state visit in 1998 he offered Japan the gift of a pair of toki. The chemicals affected the birds and their food, and by 1981 just five wild toki remained in Japan, all on Sado, where officials took them into protective captivity.īut by bizarre coincidence, the same year a population of seven wild toki was discovered in a remote area of China's Shaanxi province, reviving hopes for the bird's survival. Officials initially struggled to persuade Sado farmers to switch to environmentally friendly fertilisers Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP Toki meat was believed to have health benefits, and its feathers were favoured for everything from dusters to decorative flourishes on hats. That changed in the Meiji era and as guns became more available. They were considered a pest that damaged rice plants, but during Japan's Edo era, from 1603 to 1867, hunting restrictions meant only high-ranking officials could actively pursue birds like toki. Wild toki once lived across Japan, as well as in Russia, Taiwan and South Korea. Her death made national headlines and appeared to mark the end of a long and seemingly futile battle to protect the toki in Japan, where its feathers even inspire the word for peach pink: "toki-iro".īut now so many roam the skies and rice paddies of Sado that local officials have gone from discouraging eager birdwatchers to training guides to help visitors spot the local icon, and the government is even studying reintroducing the bird elsewhere. He points to virtually imperceptible marks on a road or a wall that help him remember where to park and start surveying.Īlso known as the Asian crested ibis, Japan's last toki died in 2003 Charly TRIBALLEAU AFPĮfforts to get Kin to mate with Sado's last wild-born male toki Midori - meaning "green" - had long since failed, and she lived out her last years as a curiosity and a cautionary environmental tale. Tsuchiya, stocky and spry with an impish grin, doesn't eat breakfast until he has made all his stops, and after years of practice he can spot chicks hidden in nests through the monocular attached to his rolled-down car window. It's a rare conservation success story when one in eight bird species globally are threatened with extinction, and involved international diplomacy and an agricultural revolution on a small island off Japan's west coast. In just under two decades, Japan's population of wild toki has gone from zero to nearly 500, all on Sado, where the bird's delicate pink plumage and distinctive curved beak now draw tourists. The bird he is looking for is called "toki" in Japanese, and its presence on his home of Sado island is testament to a remarkable conservation programme. Starting his car under star-dotted skies unpolluted by light, he works alone in the pre-dawn chill, marking sightings or absences in a planner, interrupted only by the crackle of a walkie-talkie.
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