21 December 2018

Looking for information Japan

I am preparing a holiday to North-Japan (Hokkaido, North- and Central-Honshu) for this winter/spring. I have understand that Hokkaido is a good place to search for Siberian Flying Squirrel, but can’t find any reliable (specific) location to go look for it or any contact information of someone who might do. Near Abashiri seems to be such a spot of which I do find photo’s, but no specific location and still lots of ground to cover. Anyone here who no a location or contact who might?

Have anyone done the ferrytrip from Tomakomai to Niigata? Is that good for marine wildlife and if so, what species should I look out for?

Last but not least: is there any fieldguide for (East-)Asian mammals that covers Japan?

Any other suggestions welcome of course. I did found already some very usefull information here on Mammalwatching.com.

 

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11 Comments

  • 21 December 2018
    kittykat23uk

    Hi I have nothing re your specific questions but we saw some good mammals this year and you might be interested in my trip report: http://safaritalk.net/topic/18581-japan-in-winter-a-photographic-odyssey-feb-2018/?tab=comments#comment-251302

    All the best

    Jo

    • 21 December 2018
      corotauria

      Hi Jo,
      thanks for your quick reply. I am interested in your trip report indeed, but got a failure notice:
      ” Sorry, there is a problem
      You do not have permission to view this content. ”
      What am I doing wrong…? 0:-)

      Best whishes,
      Rick

  • 21 December 2018
    Jon Hall

    A Field Guide to the Mammals of Japan by Hishashi Abe is good. Its in both Japanese and English. I was given my copy but expect you can find it somewhere. Enjoy your trip – its a lovely lovely country with great wildlife

  • 22 December 2018
    Conuropsis

    I don’t know if it’s the same book Jon mentioned but I have the Field Best Encyclopedia Series Mammals of Japan. This is a good field guide series but only the Latin names are in English which is all I need but others might not like that. It has good photos and maps and includes some small mammals as well as oceanic ones.

    Addendum: I just did a search for field guides on the net and Amazon and only found this book unless you want to pay lots of money for a reference book that you can’t take into the field. I got mine while in Tokyo at Maruzen in Reppongi Hills. They had a great selection of guides but I only bought about six since I didn’t want to bring loads of books home. Next time:-)

  • 22 December 2018
    Vladimir Dinets

    I found one last winter but it took many hours of driving and walking around with a thermal imager. 43.115553N 142.398039E

    • 23 December 2018
      corotauria

      Reading your tripreport/notes of Hokkaido I already thoughed that was more a hard-working encounter then that it would be stake-out location. 🙂

  • 23 December 2018
    Vladimir Dinets

    Wild Mammals of Japan is available as PDF somewhere. It’s not a field guide but useful.

    I’m working on a book Finding Mammals in Japan, but it will take about a year to finish.

  • 2 January 2019
    corotauria

    In these notes of Vladimir Dinets is see it could be worhtwile to visit a/some cave(s) in Japan.
    https://www.mammalwatching.com/2017/11/19/kansai-region-japan/

    I have 2 days to spare (in early March) between Kaga and Kariuzawa, Honshu. I could travel to the caves mentioned in the notes of Vladimir, but that means that we have to drive an extra 400km and risking that the caves are closed (which applies apperently for Miyama-Gujo Cave at least?).
    On the internet I do find other caves further north in the same area, but don’t know if they are interesting for bats? For example Hida Great Limestone Cave near Takajama.
    Someone who does know? Are all these caves visitable on your own or do you have to join a guided tour?

    Alternative caves good for bats on the route between Niigata and Kaga or in the Kariuzawa area are also welcoming of course.

    • 2 January 2019
      Vladimir Dinets

      The only way to know for sure is to ask a Japanese speaker to call the cave owners (if their phone is on the website).

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