Fighting Butterfly Researchers Protecting Okinawa’s Forest Life from U.S. Military Bases

Director, Photography, Editing
Yoshitaka Nitta
assistant (to a film producer)
Akari Chibana
Production Publications
EURASIAVISION
URL
https://creators.yahoo.co.jp/nittayoshitaka/0200023174

The Yanbaru Forest spreads across the northern part of Okinawa Island. It is called the “Miracle Forest” because it is home to many endemic species and rare creatures that can only be found in this region of the world, such as the Yambaru rail, a bird that cannot fly, the Noguchi-gaera, a species of woodpecker that digs holes in trees to make its nests, and the Yanbaru long-armed beetle, which is said to be the largest beetle in Japan. The Japanese government is now recommending this forest as a candidate for the World Natural Heritage list, and is aiming to register it as early as next summer.

The Yanbaru Forest is also a butterfly paradise with beautiful butterflies. There is a man who dedicates his entire life to these butterflies. Ms. Akino Miyagi, a butterfly researcher, also known as Mr. Akino. Born on Hamahiga Island in central Okinawa, Akino has loved insects since she was a child. After graduating from high school, she worked as a butterfly researcher at a museum and a graduate university in the prefecture, but she eventually became a freelance researcher, and now she continues her daily research in the Yanbaru forest. In 2011, Akino discovered that there were many of these butterflies living in Takae, Higashimura. In 2011, Mr. Aquino discovered that there were many of these butterflies living in Takae, Higashimura, and conducted research mainly in Takae, and presented a paper on their unknown ecology to the Butterfly Society of Japan, which received high praise.