I’m going to Japan in June, and despite being part Japanese, I’ve actually never been to the country as an adult. My only real naturalist goal is to maybe see a Japanese Giant Salamander, but aside from that, I don’t know where to go or what to look for. Any ideas? I’d love to go tidepooling, birding, maybe see some cool plants and insects. Cool w/ both urban and rural ideas. I’ll probably be flying into Kansai and I’m guessing I’ll mostly be between Osaka and Tokyo (maybe a detour for those salamanders).
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I didn’t venture far from the cities on my trips, but I’d definitely recommend checking out Kobe since it’s right on the way!
I think June might be too early for cicadas, but there are tons of bugs even city kids can hunt for in the summer.
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I went to Japan once a long time ago on one of those EF group tours, and while it was a wonderful trip, I always wished I could go back without a scheduled itinerary. I also wish we could have spent more time in natural areas than touring the cities. We did visit Nara and Miyajima, and as touristy as it was I still really enjoyed interacting with the deer in both places. Hakone was a nice outdoor stop, too. I remember taking a cable car to the top of the mountain and rising through the fog. We also walked a section of the old tokaido highway that was lined with some enormous old Japanese cedars. I think that would be worth the trip if you have time.
There’s a whole list of places I’d like to go and organisms I’d like to see if I go back, but I think most of them are not on Honshu. You might have a chance to find a tanuki, though, and there are lots of other endemic salamanders to find besides the giant salamander as well. There are also several parks where you could find Japanese macaques between Tokyo and Osaka, too.
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Depending on how off-the-beaten-path you want, you could check out Arashiyama in Kyoto (it’s not very off-the-beaten-path and can feel kind of curated, but it is conveniently close to transit options)
Wherever you decide to go, do take a bunch of pics outside of the big cities! I noticed that the major cities (Tokyo, Osaka etc.) are pretty observation-dense, but out in the countryside the density of observations is pretty low.
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