The ancestors of the Japanese people arrived to join
monkeys
in the Japanese archipelago 120,000-40,000 years ago, starting an intimate but fraught relationship in which the Japanese monkey has become interwoven into the lives
and
culture of the Japanese people in many ways. With an indigenous macaque species in their own nation, the Japanese people made an early start with primate research
and
conservation, reflecting tradi-tional views of nature. However, Japanese views on nature have become more varied with the social changes brought about by the continuing westernization
and
modernization of life in Japan. Conflicts have intensified among an increasing number of stakeholders expressing interest in the conservation or utilization of Japan's primates. New views of nature are needed for new generations of the Japanese people to come to grips with many complex issues involving primates in Japan, such as the approximately 10,000 Japanese
monkeys
culled as pests every year, managing feral non-Japanese
monkeys
, or the experimental use of primates. Management
and
conservation based on biological principles
and
techniques need to be reconciled with society
and
culture. This imperative is unavoidable for any nation with primate habitat or managing a large primate population. This symposium revisits how researchers
and
the public have interacted with primates in Japan, to review conser-vation activities in light of social, cultural, biological,
and
environmental conservation frameworks,
and
identify critical issues for the co-existence of humans
and
primates.
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