Photograph of Red-crowned Cranes

A beautiful image of 'dancing' Red-crowned Cranes in the cold Hokkaido winter by Francesco Veronesi.

JAPAN

Best Wildlife in Japan

Mammals
'Snow Monkey' (Japanese Macaque) and Sika Deer. Also a chance of Sea Otter, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, Japanese Serow, Northern Fur Seal and Largha (Spotted) Seal.

Birds
The birds listed first are present on and around the northern islands during the northern winter. Steller's and White-tailed Eagles, Red-crowned, Hooded and White-naped Cranes, Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses, Harlequin and Mandarin Ducks, Baikal Teal, Blakiston's Fish Owl, Crested Kingfisher, (Asian) Azure-winged Magpie, and a few of the 10 or so endemics including Copper and Green Pheasants, and Ryukyu Minivet, as well as Whooper and Bewick's Swans, Greater White-fronted and Taiga Bean Geese, Falcated Duck, Smew, Pacific Diver, Short-tailed and Streaked Shearwaters, Tristram's Storm Petrel, Red-faced Cormorant, Black-faced Spoonbill, Grey-headed Lapwing, Long-billed Plover, gulls such as Black-tailed, Saunders's and Slaty-backed, Brunnich's and Spectacled Guillemots, Ancient and Japanese Murrelets, Black, Japanese Pygmy and White-backed Woodpeckers, Bull-headed Shrike, Varied, Chinese Penduline and Long-tailed Tits, Brown Dipper, Brown-eared Bulbul, Red-flanked Bluetail, Daurian Redstart, Dusky and Pale Thrushes, White-cheeked Starling, Black-backed Wagtail, buntings including Meadow, Hawfinch, Long-tailed Rosefinch, Japanese Grosbeak, Asian Rosy Finch and Russet Sparrow. Also a chance of Short-tailed Albatross, Bohemian and Japanese Waxwings, Ural Owl, Lesser White-fronted Goose, White-billed Diver, Greater Painted Snipe, Grey and Red-necked Phalaropes, Great Black-headed Gull, Pomarine and South Polar Skuas, Long-billed Murrelet, Least Auklet, White's Thrush, buntings including Grey and Yellow-throated, and Pine Grosbeak, and an outside chance of Common, Demoiselle, Sandhill and Siberian Cranes.

Also present, on the southern islands during the northern winter, are the endemics Okinawa Rail, Amami Woodcock and Lidth's Jay, and they are joined during the northern summer by White-throated Needletail, Fairy Pitta, Japanese Paradise Flycatcher, Siberian Rubythroat and Siberian Blue Robin, as well as Matsudaira's Storm Petrel, Malayan Night Heron, Cinnamon and Yellow Bitterns, Black-winged Stilt, Latham's Snipe, Ruddy Kingfisher, Blue-and-white and Narcissus Flycatchers, and Japanese Robin.

Other Natural Wonders of Japan

Mount Fuji An almost perfectly symmetrical and currently inactive volcanic cone usually at least partly covered in ice and snow about 100 km (60 miles) from Tokyo, rising to 3776 m (12,388 ft).

Best Sites for Wildlife in Japan

Photograph of Snow Monkey

'Snow Monkey' by Brian Field.

Best Times for Wildlife in Japan

To see Snow Monkeys and Red-crowned Cranes in snow, as well as hundreds of eagles and thousands of other cranes, it is necessary to visit Japan in the middle of the northern winter, when it is very cold, especially during the second half of February when the cranes are courting and the eagle numbers usually begin to peak. The best time to look for birds which are present during the northern summer only is late May-early June. The wet season usually starts then, moving north to reach Honshu by July.

Recommended Books etc. for Japan

Birds of East Asia by M Brazil. Helm, 2009.

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-east Asia by T Shimba. Helm 2007.

Trip Reports for Japan

Many trip reports, some for Japan, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Japan. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Japan' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Japan

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.

Accommodation in Japan

Some Organized Tours to Japan

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who run organized tours or can arrange custom tours to Japan include the following.