Nature & Environment
Pick Up Stories
Explore the NEO Park [Nature & Environment Park]
What can you say? Kids love animals, and visiting a zoo is a great way to spend time with the family. The Okinawa Zoo (Kodomo-no-Kuni) is a ...Read More
Reef Currents, Beware! [Nature & Environment]
During summertime, marine activities ramp up around the island making it one of the most enjoyable activities here on Okinawa. However, that...Read More
Yohena’s Ajisai-en, The Hydrangea Garden… [Nature & Environment]
As spring moves toward summer, the floral landscape of northern Okinawa is taking on new colors as hydrangea flowers, or ajisai’s in Japanes...Read More
2019.02.04
Explore the NEO Park [Nature & Environment Park]
What can you say? Kids love animals, and visiting a zoo is a great way to spend time with the family. The Okinawa Zoo (Kodomo-no-Kuni) is a great place to watch and learn about dif...
2018.09.04
Reef Currents, Beware! [Nature & Environment]
During summertime, marine activities ramp up around the island making it one of the most enjoyable activities here on Okinawa. However, that doesn’t mean it comes without its hazar...
2018.06.01
Yohena’s Ajisai-en, The Hydrangea Garden of Motobu [Nature & Environment]
As spring moves toward summer, the floral landscape of northern Okinawa is taking on new colors as hydrangea flowers, or ajisai’s in Japanese, are now bursting into full bloom. In ...
2018.05.24
The Okinawa Rail [Nature & Environment]
The Okinawa Rail, also known as the Yanbaru Kuina in its native dialect, is a ground-living bird belonging to the Rallidae family of bird species. It is a flightless bird having an...
2018.03.06
Strawberry Picking on subtropical island [Nature & Environment]
Strawberries are synonymous with the spring season. It’s easy to pop into the supermarket and grab pack of fresh strawberries. But having a hands-on experience picking your own str...
2018.02.25
“Tankan” is taste of Okinawan winter [Nature & Environment]
“Tankan” is an Okinawan tangerines. They’re relatively small, and their orange-colored skin looks a bit rough and hard to peel off. But once you try a taste of it, I be...
2018.02.21
Whale watching season is on!! [Nature & Environment]
Okinawa is one of the best locations for whale watching as the winter brings the annual migration of humpback whales to waters off Kerama Islands where they give birth and nurture ...
2017.11.10
Camp festival “GO OUT CAMP” is coming to Okinawa [Nature & Environment]
Japan’s one of the biggest camp festival “GO OUT CAMP” is coming to Okinawa for the first time. You will definitely get hooked on the fun packed weekend with camping, music, ...
2017.05.26
100-year-old Uto Yohena still smiling with her hydrangeas [Nature & Environment]
Marking the start of summer, thousands of brilliantly colored hydrangea flowers bloom every year on a 9,900-square-meter farm in Izumi, Motobu, which once produced tangerines. The ...
2017.05.03
Hedo Misaki: Where Ocean Meets the Sea [Nature & Environment]
Less than a two hour drive from the crowds and traffic of Okinawa City, you can find yourself surrounded by the craggy beauty of Hedo misaki or Hedo Point. Here, you can stand on t...
2017.02.15
Annual dance of humpbacks off Zamami is in full swing [Nature & Environment]
Every winter from end of December through early April, humpback whales make their annual migration to waters off Okinawa, and whale watching has become one of the main tourist attr...
2017.01.29
International Orchid Show opens Feb. 4 in Motobu [Nature & Environment]
Orchids are one of the largest families of flowering plants with some 28,000 different species. They are also widely admired for their beauty and pleasant fragrance, and an object ...
27 Okinawa species listed as nationally endangered [Nature & Environment]
The Japanese Government decided in a cabinet meeting Tuesday to list 27 species of animals and plants from Okinawa as nationally endangered species, and to ban their capture or tra...
Coconut crab has strongest claws of all crustaceans [Nature & Environment]
According to a research by Okinawa Churashima Foundation, coconut crabs are able to exert up to 336.5 kg pressure with their claws making them the strongest among all crustaceans. ...
2016.11.07
When sun sets at Sunabe Seawall watch for green flash [Nature & Environment]
David Higgins Living along the Sunabe Seawall, there are evenings when you catch a glimpse of the sky and recognize that a phenomenal sunset is about to go down. These are the even...
100 new species of insects found in Okinawa City [Nature & Environment]
An environmental research in Takiyamabaru, a forested area in northern Okinawa City, that has been ongoing since 2012, has yielded about 100 species of insects never seen before. A...
Typhoons bring reprieve to bleaching of coral reefs [Nature & Environment]
With the record high weather temperatures in the western Pacific, the ocean water around Okinawa also became warmer than usual, prompting serious concerns among scientists and envi...
Yanbaru National Park becomes official today [Nature & Environment]
The land area covering 13,622 hectares over Kunigami, Ogimi, and Higashi villages plus a 3,670ha area of the ocean are formally registered today as the 33rd national park in Japan....
2016.09.09
Sunset photography tips with Pete Leong [Nature & Environment]
By David Higgins Living on or near the Sunabe Seawall, you will witness magnificent sunsets almost every evening during the summer months. The sky swirls with pinks, yellows...
Hot summer spreads coral bleaching to all of Okinawa [Nature & Environment]
Bleaching of coral caused by extremely hot summer and the lack of typhoons has caused the damage to coral reefs spread to all areas of Okinawa. According to the WWF Japan’s website...
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