BIRDING LOCATIONS
Dr. Mark Brazil's A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan (Kodansha 1987) is an irreplaceable tool, and sadly out of print. This section is intended to augment and update the information in that volume with detailed current information on routes and directions, access, costs and caveats for birding locations of permanent interest. Ephemeral sightings will continue to appear on Kantori's Facebook page.
General Comments for Visitors to Japan
Japan is not a major destination for listers unless they are nearing the 4000 mark or have occasion to come here on other business. Japan has relatively few endemics or near-endemics, and most of them are found only on various isolated islands of the archipelago; travel within the country is expensive (though inflation has been less here than in the US and Europe), especially if one wishes to go from island to island in one fell birding swoop, and the language and culture are not foreigner-friendly, though the people themselves try hard to be helpful to visitors. On the other hand, Japan is eminently first-world, safe and healthy to travel in. For those with the wherewithal, an organized tour might be the least stressful way to go, as almost all of the hit species are localized and promptly located with the help of a guide.
Our endemic species, according to current taxonomy, are: Japanese Murrelet (semi-endemic), Okinawa Rail, Amami Woodcock, Green Pheasant, Copper Pheasant, Ryukyu Scops Owl, Japanese Green Woodpecker, Okinawa Woodpecker, Japanese Wagtail (semi-endemic), Ryukyu Minivet, Japanese Accentor, Ryukyu Robin, Amami Thrush, Izu Thrush, Bonin White-eye, and Lidth's Jay.
The major authoritative reference in English is Mark Brazil's The Birds of Japan (1991) ISBN 0-7136-8006-7, which lists a further seven endemic breeders (they winter elsewhere) and 14 near-endemic/breeders (for which Japan is the main part of their range).
There are three good field guides now available:
Birds of Japan (Helm Field Guides) by Mark Brazil
Based on the next book, this is an updated and improved volume focussed entirely on Japan. Paperback 416 pages, 216x135 mm, 189 colour plates. Helm (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018. ISBN 978-1-4729-1386-9). This and the following volume are also available as e-books.
A Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia by Mark Brazil
This covers the eastern Asian region, centering especially on the major islands off the continental coast (including Japan and Taiwan) and the immediately adjacent areas of the Asian continent from Kamchatka in the north and including the Korean Peninsula. Paperback 320 pages, 216x135 mm, 112 colour plates. A&C Black Publishers Ltd. ISBN 9780713670400. Excellent.
Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and East Asia by Tadao Shimba
This is the first photographic guide to the country in English. It also includes the birds of neighbouring mainland regions of eastern Asia—namely Korea, NE China and eastern Siberia. Over 520 species are illustrated. The text succinctly describes the key identification features and each species has a distribution map. Paperback 512 pages. Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd. ISBN: 9780713674392.
The older English-language field guide, Field Guide to the Birds of Japan, by the Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ) and illustrated by S. Takano, was good in its day but has been out of print for several years and is poorly illustrated by today's standards, while the text and taxonomy are out of date. Used copies occasionally appear for sale.
An adequate substitute for the Takano field guide is A Field Guide to the Birds of Korea (Lee, Koo & Park) ISBN 89-951415-1-4, which covers many of Japan's accidentals and rarities in detail, but lacks information on Japan's endemics, many of our pelagics, and species of our tropical islands south of Kyushu.
There are two English-language birdfinding guides, both out of print: A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan, by Mark Brazil (1987) ISBN 0-87011-849-8, and A Birder's Guide to Japan, by Jane Washburn Robinson (1987) ISBN 0-934797-02-1, both unfortunately growing outdated, but still quite functional. I recommend using both (if the miracle of their concurrent possession should occur), as their information is often complementary. Either is good on its own, however. As to availability, the Wild Bird Society of Japan bookstore may still has new copies of the Brazil finding guide in stock, but their website and bookstore use only Japanese, and they do not mail-order outside of the country.
For the multilingual, there are a number of excellent, up-to-date national and regional field guides (both photographic and with paintings) and birdfinding guides in Japanese. One good field guide is Field Guide to Birds of Japan (2017), ISBN 978-4-8299-8810-7. It has a Latin index and English names in the species entries, but all else is in Japanese, so a non-speaker can glean little further information, except from the range maps.
The best birdsong set to my mind is the 6-CD set published by Shogakkan, called The Songs and Calls of 333 Birds in Japan (SNZ-480071-1 through -3 and SNZ-400072-4 through -6). The identifying voice on the recordings is Japanese, but they do come with a trilingual (Japanese-English-Latin) index.
Click a link for an area of interest:
TOKYO AREA—EASY ACCESS LOCATIONS
TOKYO AREA—FARTHER AFIELD
AICHI PREFECTURE LOCATIONS
GIFU PREFECTURE LOCATIONS
HOKKAIDO LOCATIONS
YAMAGATA PREFECTURE LOCATIONS
Dr. Mark Brazil's A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan (Kodansha 1987) is an irreplaceable tool, and sadly out of print. This section is intended to augment and update the information in that volume with detailed current information on routes and directions, access, costs and caveats for birding locations of permanent interest. Ephemeral sightings will continue to appear on Kantori's Facebook page.
General Comments for Visitors to Japan
Japan is not a major destination for listers unless they are nearing the 4000 mark or have occasion to come here on other business. Japan has relatively few endemics or near-endemics, and most of them are found only on various isolated islands of the archipelago; travel within the country is expensive (though inflation has been less here than in the US and Europe), especially if one wishes to go from island to island in one fell birding swoop, and the language and culture are not foreigner-friendly, though the people themselves try hard to be helpful to visitors. On the other hand, Japan is eminently first-world, safe and healthy to travel in. For those with the wherewithal, an organized tour might be the least stressful way to go, as almost all of the hit species are localized and promptly located with the help of a guide.
Our endemic species, according to current taxonomy, are: Japanese Murrelet (semi-endemic), Okinawa Rail, Amami Woodcock, Green Pheasant, Copper Pheasant, Ryukyu Scops Owl, Japanese Green Woodpecker, Okinawa Woodpecker, Japanese Wagtail (semi-endemic), Ryukyu Minivet, Japanese Accentor, Ryukyu Robin, Amami Thrush, Izu Thrush, Bonin White-eye, and Lidth's Jay.
The major authoritative reference in English is Mark Brazil's The Birds of Japan (1991) ISBN 0-7136-8006-7, which lists a further seven endemic breeders (they winter elsewhere) and 14 near-endemic/breeders (for which Japan is the main part of their range).
There are three good field guides now available:
Birds of Japan (Helm Field Guides) by Mark Brazil
Based on the next book, this is an updated and improved volume focussed entirely on Japan. Paperback 416 pages, 216x135 mm, 189 colour plates. Helm (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018. ISBN 978-1-4729-1386-9). This and the following volume are also available as e-books.
A Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia by Mark Brazil
This covers the eastern Asian region, centering especially on the major islands off the continental coast (including Japan and Taiwan) and the immediately adjacent areas of the Asian continent from Kamchatka in the north and including the Korean Peninsula. Paperback 320 pages, 216x135 mm, 112 colour plates. A&C Black Publishers Ltd. ISBN 9780713670400. Excellent.
Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and East Asia by Tadao Shimba
This is the first photographic guide to the country in English. It also includes the birds of neighbouring mainland regions of eastern Asia—namely Korea, NE China and eastern Siberia. Over 520 species are illustrated. The text succinctly describes the key identification features and each species has a distribution map. Paperback 512 pages. Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd. ISBN: 9780713674392.
The older English-language field guide, Field Guide to the Birds of Japan, by the Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ) and illustrated by S. Takano, was good in its day but has been out of print for several years and is poorly illustrated by today's standards, while the text and taxonomy are out of date. Used copies occasionally appear for sale.
An adequate substitute for the Takano field guide is A Field Guide to the Birds of Korea (Lee, Koo & Park) ISBN 89-951415-1-4, which covers many of Japan's accidentals and rarities in detail, but lacks information on Japan's endemics, many of our pelagics, and species of our tropical islands south of Kyushu.
There are two English-language birdfinding guides, both out of print: A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan, by Mark Brazil (1987) ISBN 0-87011-849-8, and A Birder's Guide to Japan, by Jane Washburn Robinson (1987) ISBN 0-934797-02-1, both unfortunately growing outdated, but still quite functional. I recommend using both (if the miracle of their concurrent possession should occur), as their information is often complementary. Either is good on its own, however. As to availability, the Wild Bird Society of Japan bookstore may still has new copies of the Brazil finding guide in stock, but their website and bookstore use only Japanese, and they do not mail-order outside of the country.
For the multilingual, there are a number of excellent, up-to-date national and regional field guides (both photographic and with paintings) and birdfinding guides in Japanese. One good field guide is Field Guide to Birds of Japan (2017), ISBN 978-4-8299-8810-7. It has a Latin index and English names in the species entries, but all else is in Japanese, so a non-speaker can glean little further information, except from the range maps.
The best birdsong set to my mind is the 6-CD set published by Shogakkan, called The Songs and Calls of 333 Birds in Japan (SNZ-480071-1 through -3 and SNZ-400072-4 through -6). The identifying voice on the recordings is Japanese, but they do come with a trilingual (Japanese-English-Latin) index.
Click a link for an area of interest:
TOKYO AREA—EASY ACCESS LOCATIONS
TOKYO AREA—FARTHER AFIELD
AICHI PREFECTURE LOCATIONS
GIFU PREFECTURE LOCATIONS
HOKKAIDO LOCATIONS
YAMAGATA PREFECTURE LOCATIONS