Pic 90: 三軒茶屋 - Sangenjaya, Tokyo

Pic 89: 市川 - Ichikawa, Chiba

Pic 88: 高島平 - Takashimadaira, Tokyo

Pic 87: 新宿 - Shinjuku, Tokyo

Priests in Winter

Inside

Zen priest hardly shivers

on the mountain

inside the soy sauce barrel

Outside

Freezing waterfall shower

priest's wet cloak

clings tightly to his arse

Pic 86: 代々木 - Yoyogi, Tokyo

Pic 85: 小岩 - Koiwa, Tokyo

Pic 84: 銀座 - Ginza, Tokyo

Pic 83: 小岩 Koiwa, Tokyo

Crowference 2015 - Food Self-Sufficiency

At the 716^th Annual Crowference of the Immodern Era, the CEO (Crow Executive Officer) made the keynote speech at the conference on Food Self-Sufficiency:

Cocks and hens, I’d like to welcome all Jungle Crows to the 716^th Crowference on Food Self-Sufficiency, and especially those who have flown all the way from the Northern, Southern, Western, and Eastern roosts to be here with us in the Central Capital Roost today. Over the next few days we will be hearing about developments in our settlements nationwide from our newly-elected delegates, but I will concentrate my talk on the situation here in the capital region in my capacity as CEO for the CCR, and because this is the main theme of our meeting today.

Firstly, let’s make sure that we understand the meaning of food self-sufficiency, since it is often misunderstood to mean something else. Food self-sufficiency for the Jungle Crow community means the amount of food resources in a given region that can sustain the carrying capacity in that region, without the inhabitants resorting to encroachment into other regions for the purpose of gathering, predation, or scavenging. The biggest challenge for us here in the Central Capital Roost, especially in the urbanized sections, is how to maintain our present supplies of food from anthropogenic sources, in light of the socioeconomic trends of the past couple of years. Our food from plant matter remains at a constant level and we have no great problems in this area. Predation is also brisk, since, for example, the populations of beetles and mantises do not show any signs of decline. At the same time, improvement in the natural environment has ensured a stable supply of frogs, sparrows, rats and mice, snails and earthworms.

The problem that we must all overcome is the steady decrease in food from human-related sources. This, thankfully, is not happening everywhere, so we need to increase our hunting efficiency by being more selective in both our methods and our places of activity. Till now, our greatest sources of anthropogenic food supply were: garbage in plastic bags, picnic areas (including outdoor gatherings, such as at festivals and beer gardens in summer), and places where people feed birds and fish. One potentially disturbing trend is that there is simply less food in garbage bags. The increase in ready-made meals has meant that vegetable peelings and meat trimmings have become scarcer. Moreover, humans appear to be more frugal nowadays, owing to the state of the economy. As a result of the recent increase in consumption tax, humans are not spending as much as they used to and have thus reduced their food budgets. Another unfavourable aspect of recent years is that there have been stricter controls on feeding birds and fish, which has meant a significant reduction in pickings for scavengers at recreational locations, especially in the big city parks. Yet another unwelcome element is the increase in the number of homeless humans. They often loiter outside restaurants and supermarkets and get to the choice pickings in the waste bins before us. It always astonishes and surprises us how little care is shown by humans towards their own kind - but I’m digressing here

On the other wing, I’m glad to report that there have also been some beneficial developments for our clans. In the past, food scraps dropped intentionally or unintentionally could only be found in specific places at specific times: in parks at human lunch-time, picnic and barbecue spots, festival sites and outdoor cafes. Moreover, it was not easy to procure nourishing food scraps because of the vigilance and aggressive attitude of the humans taking part in these activities. In recent times, however, we have been fortunate in that the humans have not been bothering us to the same extent as previously, opting instead to stare for long periods at machines held in front of their faces. This has also allowed to us to get closer even to babies and the morsels they drop; but beware of getting close to pets, especially small dogs, as this can provoke extremes of aggression.

In our studies and subsequent analyses, we have also noticed some changes in recent human behaviour, again a plus for our food-scrap gathering activities. Humans seem to be less concerned about their behaviour in public than in the past, with the result that they now snack in public more openly, a present-day phenomenon practiced more by the female of the species for some reason, probably as a result of abatement of gender-biased criticism of female conduct in front of others. This means, of course, that there are more scraps ready for picking in places more barren in the past: date spots, fashionable streets, station platforms, and outside schools and colleges (if we could only get into buses and trains!). Our observations have shown that the increase in snacking in public places is related to the prevalence of some kind of angst among humans today. They always have to be doing something; they cannot relax for even short periods of time, unless transfixed to the machines in front of them. So eating in transit is a satisfying method of assuaging impatience and frustration. Some analysts have termed this phenomenon as “scared of doing nothing,” others call it “the can’t wait mentality,” but I digress here again.

To sum up, in order to maintain sustainability of future generations, we must review our food gathering methods and policies to solve the problems facing us, and to exploit the new and ever-changing opportunities that present themselves in our hunting grounds. We need to continue our awareness and understanding of the changes in human behaviour, and we must act and plan in ways that are most beneficial for the Jungle Crow community. With effort and courage, I’m sure that we will be able to maintain, and even raise, our level of food self-sufficiency in the years to come.