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       A Tokyo Taxi Driver Is Charged With Running Down a Pigeon

       The arrest of the 50-year-old driver highlighted the strict law in Japan against harming the birds, even if they take over balconies or get in the way of traffic.

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       A pigeon at a closed shopping area near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo. Credit...Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press

       By Hisako Ueno and Yan Zhuang

       Hisasko Ueno reporting from Tokyo

       Dec. 22, 2023, 1:54 p.m. ET

       Often seen as disease-carrying nuisances, pigeons have an image problem around the world.

       Japan is no exception, but the birds enjoy some legal immunity, forcing city dwellers to put up with these unwanted guests roosting and cooing on their balconies.

       Under Japan’s wildlife laws, residents may not kill or remove even the peskiest of birds without approval from the local authorities, a protection that feral pigeons do not have at the national level in the United States, though some states including Massachusetts have rules against killing them. If people discover that a pigeon has laid an egg or made a nest on their balcony, they cannot remove the bird, nest or egg without approval either.

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       Hisako Ueno has been reporting on Japanese politics, business, gender, labor and culture for The Times since 2012. She previously worked for the Tokyo bureau of The Los Angeles Times from 1999 to 2009. More about Hisako Ueno

       Yan Zhuang is a reporter in The New York Times's Australia bureau, based in Melbourne. More about Yan Zhuang

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