Sado - Toki-Terrace and Chokokuji Temple

Our group starts the day with a visit to the Toki Rehabilitation Center. Since 2008, Toki, also known as Nippon-Ibis, have been bred and released into the wild here. Toki are white and pink-orange ibises, about the size of herons. They feed on small creatures in rice fields, such as frogs and insects. Due to the use of pesticides, pollution of their habitats, and hunting for their beautiful feathers, the birds became extinct in the wild in 1981. There were a few remaining individuals in zoos, and some of them were brought to Japan and merged with the last captured birds in Sado. Toki have been bred since 1999 and released into the wild since 2008, with visible success. Today, over 500 of them live in Sado. From an observation point, we can see the roof of the enclosure and observe the Toki there with a controllable camera. Visitors are not allowed near the enclosure to avoid stressing the birds with too many people, unlike in a zoo. Inside the enclosure, the staff grows rice to get the birds accustomed to searching for food in the rice fields. After a short presentation, we go to the observation platform and can actually see some Toki in the rice fields. They currently have dark-colored heads to blend in better during the breeding season. A bright pink bird would stand out a bit in the forest. Below the observation platform, there is a small information room with up-to-date information about the population and methods for protecting the Toki. There are also some binoculars that can be used to look for them in the rice fields.

We continue by bus to Chokokuji Temple. This temple used to be famous for its rabbits. The rabbits would eat the weeds and also attract many visitors. But at some point, someone found a dead baby rabbit and posted a picture on Twitter. If you know Twitter, you know what happened next. So, he had to give away all the rabbits, and they are probably much better off with some little girl all alone in her room. Well, enough about the rabbits, there aren't as many of them here anymore. We have lunch here, and the temple monk guides us through all the rooms. He has something to say about each room. One room is said to be haunted, one statue should not be turned away from, another can only be opened once every 33 years, otherwise you'll go blind. But the blindness can be reversed in another room. In the garden, he shows us a cave sealed with a large stone. This cave is the grave of a monk who used to live in the temple and went inside alive and never came out. Especially when he shows us the place where he wants to dig his own cave, you can tell that he might be a bit crazy. He always runs so fast from one room to another, or just disappears somewhere for half an hour, as if he can teleport or something. Chris, the director of World-Unite, thinks he must be the ghost he told us about. After this very interesting tour of the quite large temple, we sweep all the rooms he showed us for about an hour and then head back. With 20 people, we're luckily done quickly.