The profound environmental devastation resulting from the Asia-Pacific War lasted long after Japan's surrender in 1945. War not only denuded the landscape of wildlife, trees and other natural resources, but also disrupted entire ecosystems. In addressing the environmental casualties of war, government officials also recognized an opportunity to educate the human casualties of war: they launched an annual Bird Day and targeted schoolchildren. Within two decades, children were leading national efforts to save threatened bird species such as the crested ibis and red-crowned crane. This chapter explores Japan's developing environmental awareness, activism and growing use of children as charismatic conservationists.

Introduction

In late 1946, reports of an alarming environmental phenomenon sweeping across the nation began to attract widespread attention. From the Imperial Palace and Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, to Kyushu in the south and Hokkaido in the north, Japan's famous pine trees were dying. Many considered the pine to be a symbol of Japan as iconic as the cherry tree and Mt Fuji. Aside from its natural beauty and cultural significance, the loss of the pine trees would also be detrimental to the economy. Japan's postwar recovery depended on the health and abundance of its domestic timber supply, most importantly for the building and paper industries. By 1947, more than two million pine trees were estimated to have died already, or enough to build a hundred thousand houses for war sufferers in Tokyo. On October 15, 1946, the Nippon Times revealed that the “silent death of these grand old trees [was] being caused by noxious insects … feeding upon the tree and sapping out its life.” In the absence of effective prevention measures, how could the trees be saved? Experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) considered stripping bark and burning trees to destroy the insects, but this risked causing irreparable damage to Japan's famed scenic spots and budding tourism industry.