Summer in Northern Japan
10th - 22nd June 2023
Sunrise from Mount Mokoto, Hokkaido
With China opening it's borders I was finally able to return and sort out my finances, with the help of the wonderful Maggie Zhao. This then provided the perfect opportunity to spend a couple of weeks exploring northern Japan in summer... a fascinating contrast to my winter visit in January 2017 (report here).
Honshu Mountains
Once again, my trip was superbly organised by Nigel Moorhouse of Sarus Bird Tours (https://sarusbirdtours.com/) starting with picking up a hire car and heading for the famous Pension Bergcot in Nagano province. A beautiful little guesthouse nestled in deciduous woodland with visiting racoon dog, japanese squirrel, sika deer and a variety of different birds, as well as superb food served up by the owners, Daisaku and Azusa... who couldn't be more welcoming and helpful.
Reluctantly leaving Bergcot, I headed back towards Tokyo, stopping on the way to spend some time exploring Mount Takao. The weather was very wet when I arrived making photography difficult, but I did mange to see a giant flying squirrel and some strange spiders on a night walk. The next morning, bright sunshine brought out a host of insect life including exotic beeltes and butterflies as well as birds like the beautiful melodious laughingthrush.
Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)
Japanese Squirrel (Sciurus lis)
Japanese stick spider
Melodious Laughingthrush (Garrulax canorus)
Tokyo City
I'd planned to spend a day in Tokyo before flying north to Hokkaido. The weather was again very damp to start with as I made my way, first by subway and then navigating Tokyo's chaotic streets on foot, to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Its a large, spacious city park which as you'd expect in Japan is very neat and tidy, but none-the-less has a good variety of birdlife.
Next stop as the skies cleared, was Port Wild Bird Park, a genuine coastal nature reseve with extensive wetlands and woodland. Waterfowl are mainly winter visitors but the woodland rang with birdsong and teemed with insect life; exotic butterflies competing for nectar with huge irridescent beetles, while tiny jumping spiders patrolled the vegetation below.
Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)
Flower Chafer (Cetoniinae sp.)
Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
Wasp-mimic Spider (Salticidae sp.)
Jumping Spider (Salticidae sp.)
Akan Mashu National Park
The main aim of the trip was to explore some of Hokkaido's national parks in search of animals like bears, chipmunks and cetaceans, so after a short flight, I picked up the new hire car and headed for Akan Mashu National Park. Once again the weather was very damp and Mount Mokoto, my main hope for chipmunks was completely shrouded in cloud. There was plenty of birdlife though, and both sika deer and red foxes were plentiful and surprisingly approachable.
At dawn the next morning Mount Mokoto was completely hidden by low cloud, but I decided to drive up anyway and to my surprise the summit was above the clouds... bathed in bright sunshine! Chipmunks and sika deer basked in the warmth, serenaded by noisy Japanese brush warblers. The weather improved over the next couple of days revealing beautiful scenery as well as lots of different butterflies and birds and even a charming japanese treefrog.
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)
Siberian Chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus)
White-bellied Green Pigeon (Treron sieboldii)
Japanese Treefrog (Hyla japonica)
Black-veined White butterfly (Aporia crataegi)
Shiretoko Peninsula
My final destination was the wild and rugged Shiretoko Peninsula, jutting out into the Pacific Ocean, just 24 kilometers from Russion territory. Home to a large population of brown bears which can be viewed from boat trips around the peninsula, whale-watching is also available with over a dozen species recorded, though since a sinking with 26 fatalities in 2022, they only sail when the sea is perfectly calm.
I booked a total of five boat trips, three of which were cancelled due to 'high seas', including both bear cruises, which sadly meant I missed out on one of my main targets of the trip. However I did manage two excellent whale-watching trips with superb views of a pack of Orca and also thanks to the help of my excellent guide Machi Yoshida, a variety of different albatrosses, auks and other cool seabirds.
Pair of Orca (Orcinus orca)
Short-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris)
Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes)
Narcissus Flycatcher (Ficedula narcissina)
Mother Sika Deer with fawn (Cervus nippon)
This was another excellent trip to Japan, for which Nigel Moorhouse (www.sarusbirdtours.com) has to take most of the credit. There's very little English spoken away from the main tourist centres, which makes arranging to visit wild areas very difficult if you don't speak the language. I simply gave Nigel a list of the things I wanted to do and he arranged everything at a surprisingly reasonable price, including all accommodation, rental cars, internal flights and boat trips. He is a birding specialist but also knows about mammals and I would strongly recommend him to anyone wanting to travel independantly in Japan.
For such a highly developed and populated country, there is an amazing variety of wildlife, from the tropical forests of the southern islands to the frozen wilderness of winter Hokkaido... and everything inbetween! The people are incredibly friendly and helpful which prevents the language being a barrier, the culture is unique and with someone reliable to arrange everything, I would definitely recommend a visit.
Mammal Species
Honshu
Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)Japanese Squirrel (Sciurus lis)
Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista leucogenys)
Sika Deer(Cervus nippon)
Hokkaido
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)Orca (Orcinus orca)
Eurasian Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
Siberian Chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus)
Large Japanese field mouse (Apodemus speciosus)
Sika Deer(Cervus nippon)
Siberian Chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus) caught in mid-leap!