See
I left OUT sorry
because I don't care if you are sorry- that's a personal thing- I just don't want a repeat performance if you shove me in line. But then I'm a practical person, and I'm results oriented.
Here's a fun one for you- some folks at a workshop I attended today were talking about these crows, so I HAD to look them up:
Crows becoming public enemy No. 1
Karasu-Battle (Crow Battle)
By Youko Yazaki
Review by Takanori Kobayashi
Early each morning before the garbage trucks roll up, there is an eerie atmosphere outside the back of restaurants in Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro and so forth, in Tokyo. That mood comes neither from the emptiness of the streets nor the smell of kitchen garbage, but from the scores of crows impudently prowling for food scraps.
Crows have become a big problem in recent years. Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara even promised to get rid of crows during his election campaign. Throughout Japan, many local governments are declaring war on the pesky birds.
In ancient times in Japan, a crow was considered a holy bird sent from the gods. Nowadays, it is seen as a bird of ill omen perhaps due to its appearance: the big bill and glossy black body seem to make many people uneasy when they get close to a crow. In addition, crows can be extremely cunning.
In "Karasu-Battle (Crow Battle) published by Ohta Publishing, non-fiction writer Youko Yazaki compiles anecdotes, both humorous and serious, about run-ins between people and crows.
The most publicized run-in happened to Ishihara who doesn't mince words. Ishihara's anger at the birds came about after he was attacked by one during a game of golf. He got so mad he threw an iron at the bird. The crow didn't wince at Ishihara's outburst but many reporters and political aides did.
Crows are also adept at pilfering things such as hangers, clothes, foods and so on. They have even been known to stop trains by putting pebbles on the tracks and cutting off the electric power by making nests on pylons. Their activities are making them the subject of many media stories.
Some people might think this reaction to crows is a bit extreme and that they can't seriously hurt humans. But that's not so, says Yazaki. One victim of a crow attack Yazaki interviewed sustained terrible injuries.
"When I went to my roof garden to water flowers, suddenly, something hit the back of my head. I felt like I had been hit by a ball," said the middle-aged woman. She fell onto the concrete and hit her face, breaking her nose, teeth and an arm.
At first, she thought that someone had attacked her, but she knew who did it as soon as she saw a crow flying right above her head. If an elderly person or child were to be attacked, the result could be fatal, so the issue cannot be just laughed away.
Yazaki attributes the proliferation of crows to the increasing amount of food being thrown out, or more specifically, the lax way of separating garbage. Crows tend to gather around dumping spots where garbage is scattered and not properly classified.
In that sense, the recent upsurge of crows may be a sign of the rise of people who cannot observe basic community rules like how to properly sort and throw out their garbage. The battle between crows and people is far from over.
June 21, 2002
japantoday.com |
