Tokyo Waka: A City Poem

Gr 7 Up—Approximately 13 million people live in Tokyo, but so do more than 20,000 crows. This film depicts Tokyo as a thriving metropolis, where millions of people spend their days at work and their nights at play, while flocks of crows watch from their high perches. But the two do not always coexist peacefully. Citizens of Tokyo— young and old, working and homeless—are interviewed to acquire a sense of how crows are very much a part of life for its citizens. A young teen couple reminisces about the song of the crows they heard as children. A Buddhist priest explains how these birds are symbolic of survival—they only eat and scrounge for food and scraps in order to survive. Wild bird specialists explain how they have cooperated with the city government to devise ways to keep the birds from attacking and scavenging the garbage. The government has had some success in reducing the number of crows and their attacks, but even after trapping and destroying nests, their population still increases. Although the film focuses on the changing relationship between humans and crows, it also offers an engaging depiction of Japanese urban life. Librarians and teachers of urban studies, zoology, and wildlife management could use the film for enrichment.—Sheila Acosta, San Antonio Public Library, TX