Preface
I feel tremendously privileged to have first been able to visit the islands of Japan while I was a post-graduate student, now four decades ago. I have been fascinated by Japan’s natural heritage and natural history ever since. I found the landscapes and seasons of Japan to be attractive and appealing, and its biodiversity and geodiversity extraordinary. At the same time, I found the approaches of the Japanese people to the natural world around them to be inspiring, while also paradoxical and bewildering. My fascination with the country and its wildlife grew as I explored the archipelago, from the high mountains to the coasts, from northernmost Hokkaidō to the southernmost of the Nansei Shotō Islands and the Ogasawara Islands, and encountered more and more of the species that are at home there. A major allure that Japan holds for me is the considerable number of endemic species and subspecies found here, a consequence of the long geographical isolation that the archipelago has experienced as a whole and, more specifically, that of each subsidiary island group. The extent and length of the isolation experienced by life on these islands have been so great as to render Japan a veritable Galápagos of East Asia.
My own early explorations were hampered by an almost complete lack of guidebooks in English indicating places suitable for watching wildlife and helping with the identification of the species occurring there. There were few resources that could help the overseas visitor unable to read Japanese to understand the natural heritage, natural history and ecology of this special group of islands. That lack of information inspired me to write site guides and field guides – the very kind of books which I had wished were available during my first explorations of Japan. This new book is the culmination of my final dream, which is to make Japan’s natural history interesting and accessible to even the most casual of visitors and travellers to these islands. It is exactly the kind of book I wished I could have read when I first visited. I hope that the personal and non-technical style will make the subject matter interesting, approachable and informative to the novice naturalist and specialist alike, and that it will allow another generation of Japan-obsessed naturalists to delve much further and deeper into Japan’s fascinating natural history.
Japan is widely perceived as an intensively urbanized and highly industrialized techno-marvel, complete with environmentally destructive policies, yet the country hosts a delightful array of wild creatures to excite any visiting naturalist (as I have previously described in The Nature of Japan). As a temperate island archipelago Japan cannot match large continental or tropical areas for their natural diversity, and Japan’s range of animals and plants does face threats from the overwhelming exploitation of both the marine and the terrestrial environments, yet, as you delve into this book, you will discover that it is home to many interesting, intriguing and even iconic species. Japan can relate some major conservation success stories, as exemplified by the recovering populations of endangered species such as Short-tailed Albatross [VU]1, Red-crowned Crane [VU], Oriental Stork [CR] and Crested Ibis [EW]. At the same time, it battles with growing conflict between people and certain common wildlife species in rural farming areas. As human populations in rural areas decline, mammals such as the Japanese Deer2, Japanese Macaque and Wild Boar become emboldened, expand their ranges and put pressure on farmland where there are now too few people to deter them.
In this book, I introduce the natural heritage, natural history and wildlife of Japan, and reveal where Japan’s relationship with nature shines and where it is tarnished. The structure of the book offers a progression of chapters describing the underlying form and functioning of the country, the elements that have shaped and continue to shape its natural history, and which concern the identity and fascinating characteristics of individual species. This book is designed also for dipping into. Short stories elucidate aspects of the country’s natural history and illuminate the ecology and behaviour of some highlighted species.
My approach in this book is centred largely on terrestrial wildlife, as birds and mammals have always been my own primary interest and provide the main extent of my experience. Given the size constraints of a volume of this type, I have made no attempt to turn this book into a complete field guide. For those looking to understand Japan’s avifauna, my field guide Birds of Japan fills that niche. Those wanting a guide to the mammalian fauna need look no further than A Guide to the Mammals of Japan and The Wild Mammals of Japan, both of which are in English.
The country is now well provided with field guides in Japanese for most groups of organisms, including plants, freshwater invertebrates, terrestrial insects (especially butterflies and dragonflies), marine fish, reptiles and amphibians. I have therefore recommended a number of these references in the bibliography for those who wish to explore beyond the pages of this book.
As many of the species mentioned here are likely to be unfamiliar to readers, I have included their scientific names in the index, after their English names. I have made no attempt to reference every fact, but have provided an extensive bibliography and list of recommended reading.
I hope that this book will provide you with insights into the natural history of a fascinating archipelago and will encourage you to explore these islands with fresh and open eyes.
Subtropical forest can be found on the islands of the southwestern archipelago [TsM].
1 The Ministry of the Environment’s (2002) categories for populations of rare species in Japan include Extinct in the Wild [EW], Critically Endangered [CR], Endangered [EN], Vulnerable [VU] and Near Threatened [NT]. These categories are indicated in this book when a species is first mentioned.
2 The widespread English name Sika (pronounced see-ka) for this species of deer is derived from a confusing mis-transliteration of the Japanese name, which is pronounced sh-ka or she-ka. Given that the Japanese word sh-ka means deer, Sika Deer is tautological; hence throughout this book I have referred to it as the Japanese Deer.