Aleph Wins Hokkaido Biodiversity Conservation Award

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Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture, announced the winners of its first biodiversity conservation awards on December 28, 2017. To promote biodiversity conservation efforts, the awards recognize businesses, groups and individuals with outstanding and leading practices in Hokkaido. The first award ceremony was held on February 1, 2018.

In the business category, Aleph Inc., a Japanese company that manages Bikkuri Donkey family restaurants, won the award for its efforts to remove dark spotted frogs (Pelophylax nigromaculatus), a designated non-native species in Hokkaido. The company was highly praised for its work in raising awareness on the issue of invasive species through environmental education. Using brochures and other materials, Aleph clearly explains biodiversity issues using the dark spotted frog as an example of a domestic species non-indigenous to Hokkaido.

While dark spotted frogs are not native to Hokkaido, they have been widely observed in the prefecture since 1993 as a result of being brought in and abandoned by humans. Every year, Aleph organizes events to catch and remove these alien frogs from winter-flooded rice paddies ("fuyumizu-tambo" in Japanese) located in Ecorin Village, the company's garden theme park in Eniwa City, as part of a hands-on rice cultivation program. It also holds lectures and other events to raise awareness on biodiversity protection and issues of invasive species. Nearly one thousand people have participated in the frog-catching events so far.

Aleph is also tackling the removal of the large earth bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), also designated as an invasive species in Japan. It is hoped that Aleph will continue to build on and strengthen its work against invasive species.