A Little Fish in a Big Pond - DaLilFishie does Japan

[DaLilFishie]

March 20th 2025 - Day 1 - Kamogawa and Kyoto Aquarium

On my first morning in Japan, I woke up earlier than my family perhaps would have liked after a long flight, to bird along the Kamogawa - but I could barely sleep from the excitement of birding overseas for the first time. The name is certainly apt - the 'wild duck river' did indeed harbour many ducks, most new species for me, such as the Eurasian Wigeon, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Mallard and Eurasian Teal - all unfazed by the city trains roaring overhead. More exciting for me however were the passerines, including a lifer family in the Brown-eared Bulbul. Wagtails were abundant with two species seen, White and Japanese - both target species I very much wanted to see so they were pleasing sightings. The Kamogawa is very shallow in most places, making it an ideal place for these wagtails to fossick between river cobbles for aquatic insects. Soft calls from the treeline revealed the presence of a foraging pair of Warbling White-eyes, which scarcely felt different from the familiar Silvereye at home in Australia. A trio of White-cheeked Starlings briefly flew overhead, the species the pokemon Starly is (very closely) based off. The cute Eurasian Tree Sparrow was abundant - perhaps I'm simply biased by novelty but I prefer the appearance of these to the similar and familiar House Sparrow. The chestnut cap and cute black cheeks really set these apart. A large heron flew past briefly, a Grey Heron I believe, before quickly disappearing into the tall. grass that flanks the Kamogawa. Overall a pleasant introduction to birds I will hopefully be seeing more of in the coming weeks.

In the early afternoon, I headed to Kyoto Aquarium, a conveniently short bus ride from Kyoto Station. The highlights here are certainly the displays of local freshwater and marine life. I quite enjoyed the displays of multiple cypriniform species, such as minnows, chubs, bitterlings and gudgeons kept together, as it allowed for a close study of the differences between these rather similar species. The giant salamnders had an interesting display showing different stages throughout their growth, from juveniles barely 20 centimetres long to the full-grown adults. Three Andrias species are signed - japonicus, davidianus and japonicus x davidianus hybrid - but it is unclear which were in which tanks so I was a little unsure exactly what I was looking at. The upstairs area of the Sea of Kyoto (closed for maintenance on my 2019 visit) has been converted into a rather well-done jellyfish exhibit, displaying many interesting species (a huge leap up from the jellyfish exhibits I'm used to in Australia, which seldom include more than 3 species). The main Sea of Kyoto tank held some surprisingly interesting species, including some of more tropical provenance than I was expecting - this seems to depict a subtropical zone. Seeing a Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse attend to deepwater patients such as the Horsehead Tilefish was an unexpected sight indeed! Unfortunately, the swirling shoal of Japanese Pilchards that were present here in 2019 are no longer on display, a real shame. Gone too are the Pitted Stingrays and all but one of the Japanese Topesharks. One unusual fish in this tank completely stumped me for an identification, but later turned out to be a juvenile Ara (aka Ara Grouper and Saw-edged Perch), a new family for me. This fish, once placed in the wastebasket Serranidae, has now been given its own family, Niphonidae, as genetic studies have revealed it's closer affinity to the freshwater Percidae than to its fellow serranids.

The marine mammal exhibits are the weak point. The Dolphin Stadium is an unremarkable dolphin show tank, that made for exceptionally poor viewing of the animals when not performing - only visible when they briefly breached the surface, or from a tiny convex window in the lobby. I did not attend the dolphin performance so can make no comment about it's quality. The South American Fur Seals have an aesthetically decent exhibit, but feels small and the water quite shallow. The worst offender is the Spotted Seal exhibit, which is painfully small. The pop-up tube to which the seals can swim is an interesting way of displaying the animals, but the exhibit is cramped and the three seals housed within have little to do besides float lifelessly at the surface, or swim back and forth from the pop-up tube.

The aquarium is not large and everything may be comfortably seen in 2 or 3 hours. Admission is 2400¥ adult.

After the aquarium, I came across another White Wagtail on the rooftop garden of Kyoto Station, which was fearless of people and allowed be to get very close for photos. I soon realised it was missing every single toe, and was walking around just fine on nubs of legs. I named it Notojo (read: No Toe Joe).

This concluded my time in Kyoto, for now. I will be returning for a few days on the way back to Osaka.

Kamogawa species list:
- Eurasian Wigeon
- Eastern Spot-billed Duck
- Mallard
- Eurasian Teal
- Rock Dove
- Eurasian Coot
- Black-headed Gull
- Little Egret
- Grey Heron
- Black Kite
- Carrion Crow
- Large-billed Crow
- Brown-eared Bulbul
- Warbling White-eye
- White-cheeked Starling
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow
- Japanese Wagtail
- White Wagtail

 

[DaLilFishie]

March 21 - Day 2 - Alps, Nakasendo and Magome-juku

This was an early morning to catch the Shinkansen to Nagoya (will be returning here later for the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium), and then navigate local transport to Magome-juku, a post town along the Nakasendo in the Japanese Alps. The Nakasendo is a historic route from Kyoto to Tokyo, and parts of it have been made accessible to hikers, so I figured this was a prime opportunity for birding - especially for my target Rock Ptarmigan, which in Japan is only found in the Alps. I was hoping for some snow too - and snow I got in bountiful quantities - so much so that the compacted ice on the hiking track made for treacherous walking - especially for a tropical creature such as myself unaccustomed to such conditions. The initial plan was to cover the approximately 7km walk to Tsumago-juku, another such post town, but due to the ice I ended up bailing at about the halfway point, hailing a local bus back to Magome-juku. Birds were sparse on the ground with few species seen, but I did land two lifers - the petite Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, whose minute size and upside-down foraging on twigs made me intidially misidentify it as a Eurasian Treecreeper, and a pair of the adorable Long-tailed Tit. I couldn't stop myself from saying "Woah, that's a nice pair of tits!". I later bought a Long-tailed Tit keychain to commemorate the occasion. Unfortunately, the ptarmigan eluded me, as did any mammals (this area is inhabited by Asian Black Bears and Japanese Macaques, and bells are installed along the path which hikers can ring to avoid an encounter with the former), besides the footprints of an unknown artiodactyl in the freshly fallen snow.

March 23 - Day 3 - Onto Takayama
This was little more than a travel day, taking the several hours of public transport required to get from Magome-juku to Takayama. That didn't stop me from getting a few lifers though! After breakfast in Magome-juku, I took a brief stroll to look for birds, which netted me my lifer Grey Wagtail, with two of the birds perching on electrical wires to watch for insects. Some empty rice paddies also harboured birds, such as a Dusky Thrush and a pair of White-cheeked Starlings, which didn't stick around for long before noticing the Black Kite circling overhead, and making their escape. As I neared another paddy, a pair of snipes exploded into flight and disappeared into the grass - I managed some extremely poor and blurry images of them in flight, but these are likely unable to be identified. Oh well.

A significant part of the train journey to Takayama follows the scenic Hida River, and I was blown away by how clear the water was - a far cry from the muddy, mangrove-lined tidal rivers I'm familiar with back home. This also allowed for (very brief) viewing of some aquatic birds, a few thankfully able to be identified from such a short glimpse. These included Common Mergansers, Great Cormorants, a Common Shelduck, Little Grebe, Mallard and Eastern Spot-billed Duck. The powerlines in some agricultural areas also had numerous Ortiental Turtle Doves, and a passerine I believe to have been a shrike.

 

[DaLilFishie]

March 23 - Day 4 - Takayama

Today was a rest day in Takayama to rest, wash clothes, and check out the town of Takayama. While looking at market stalls along the Miyagawa River, there were a surprising amount of birds. Besides the ubiquitous Eurasian Tree Sparrow, there were numerous Eastern Spot-billed Ducks, plus Amur Carp (perhaps better known for their domesticated form, the Koi) in the river. Wagtails, both White and Japanese, frequented the rubble emerging from the water, as well as my lifers Asian House Martin and Daurian Redstart near a bridge. In the afternoon, I headed to Shiroyama Park for some dedicated birding, hearing it was a good spot for tits. On the way there, a plump, medium-sized dark bird landed on the roof of a convenience store (endearingly referred to as 'conbini' in Japan), which closer examination revealed to be a handsome Blue Rock-thrush. Upon arriving at Shiroyama Park, expecting a typical city garden, I was quite surprised to instead find it was a rather serious hiking trail, with steep slopes and signage warning visitors to the presence of bears! Unwilling to make the climb up to the castle in the park's centre, I took the flatter path around the perimeter. Plenty of birds could be heard but the dense forest made actually seeing them a difficult task. Nevertheless, I got an additional three lifers here - a pair of handsome Eurasian Jays stripping bark from a large tree searching for insects, an extremely confiding Varied Tit which allowed me to watch for several minutes as it foraged by tossing leaf litter, and a few more flighty Asian Tits. Overall, a pleasant day with many pleasing birds ticked, especially the gorgeous Varied Tit which had been a high priority target species.

 

[DaLilFishie]

March 24 - Day 5 - Shirakawa-go and Ainokura
Heading further into the Alps, I headed for Shirakawa-go to check out the historic village there. I wasn't expecting much in way of birds with all the snow - but boy was I wrong! Besides the ubiquitous Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Black Kite, I got three new species here - a Japanese Woodpecker in a bare tree in the middle of town, multiple Barn Swallows hawking insects overhead, and, much to my shock, a Brown Dipper in a drainage canal! This was probably one of my most wanted birds to see while I'm here in Japan, and this one was very confiding, demonstrating its aquatic foraging prowess and smashing a caddisfly larva it caught against a small rock before quickly swallowing it. These canals also contained some new fish species for me - the handsomely-marked Rainbow Trout and nondescript brown fish I believe may have been Pacific Redfins.

By the point I'd finished in Shirakawa-go and travelled by bus to Ainokura, I'd run out of energy for any more serious birding, but that didn't stop me from picking up a few incidental Meadow Buntings and a pair of Oriental Turtle Doves. The latter I had seen a few times in the last 2 days but never managed a photo, but here I finally was able to snap a few pictures of one trotting across the road.

 

[Chlidonias]

This concluded my time in Kyoto, for now. I will be returning for a few days on the way back to Osaka.

I just realised that Kyoto is very close to Katata. For birding, you might be interested in the Kasugayama Park, just along the road from Katata Station; and in Osaka you might be interested in Minoh Park.

See this post of mine for some information on both: Chlidonias Goes To Asia, part seven: 2024-2025

 

[DaLilFishie]

I just realised that Kyoto is very close to Katata. For birding, you might be interested in the Kasugayama Park, just along the road from Katata Station; and in Osaka you might be interested in Minoh Park.

See this post of mine for some information on both: Chlidonias Goes To Asia, part seven: 2024-2025

Oh, thanks for letting me know! I might be able to do Katata as a day trip from Kyoto. I'll look into Minoh Park too, but I have less than a day in Osaka (really, I'm only there to catch my flight back home), and I'm already planning to visit Osaka Aquarium so I may not have time to slot in more activities.

 

[DaLilFishie]

March 25 - Day 6 - Kanazawa

Leaving Ainokura, I headed for Kanazawa to spend the day there before the relatively quick Shinkansen ride to Toyama, where I'd spend the night. While I had little explicitly planned in Kanazawa that was animal-related, I ended up seeing some neat species anyway. First stop in Kanazawa was Omi-cho Seafood Market for lunch - but not before perusing the stalls to see some odd and unfamiliar fish - most dead, of course, but a handful of stalls had live holding tanks - in which I saw Black Scrapers, Red Queen Crabs (a specialty of western Japan) and a Grass Puffer. While here I took the chance to try sea urchin roe - while I'm glad I tried it, I can't say I especially enjoyed it, while pleasantly creamy in texture, the taste was slightly bitter and fishy.

Later in the afternoon, I found myself at Kanazawa's Asanogawa Bridge, and I took the opportunity for a brief spot of birding near it. While this didn't gain me any new species for the trip, it did afford better views of some I'd already seen. These included a number of Eurasian Coots, a pair of Blue Rock-thrushes and a Black Kite perched atop a building.


March 26 - Day 7 - Uozu Aquarium

Uozu Aquarium is a small facility in the sleepy seaside town of Uozu that I had never heard of before until googling things to do in the vicinity of Toyama. I could find little information about it online besides the aquarium's own website, which claims it to be the oldest still-running aquarium in Japan, the only aquarium with a Black Scraper performance (that is, a species of filefish), and having a seasonal display of the deep-sea Firefly Squid, which annually ascends to the shallows of Toyama Bay to spawn. The last item on this list greatly intrigued me, so I made the trip to check it out.

There are a few external exhibits that can be viewed without a ticket to Uozu Aquarium - a trio of Humboldt Penguins, two Spotted Seals in a very small, bathtub-like enclosure, and a circular pool housing White Sturgeon, Kaluga and Japanese Huchen. Upon entering the aquarium proper, the first exhibit displays species found in the freshwater rivers and streams that flow into Toyama Bay. These tanks display, including others, Yamame, Nikkou Char, Amur Catfish, Amur Carp, Japanese Ricefish, Barbel Steed, sticklebacks, a variety of freshwater gobies and sculpins, minnows, bitterlings and other small cypriniforms, as well as amphibians, reptiles and aquatic insects. Next is a nice array of marine tanks displaying local shallow-water and deep sea species. Some of the deep sea tanks are poorly lit, making for difficult viewing of the animals but many interesting species are on display here - such as Rough Snailfish, Blackthroat Seaperch, Sailfin Armourhead, Itomaki Basketfish, Okhotsk Snailfish, Golden Skate, Tanaka's Eelpout, Spinyhead Sculpin, Red Queen Crab and Hunchback Sculpin. The main tank here, a large tunnel-type exhibit, houses (among others) a large shoal of amberjacks. This tank is signed as having two amberjack species in it - Japanese Amberjack and Greater Amberjack, but I do not know how to tell these species apart. This tank also houses a number of Japanese sea fishes fished for food - such as Red Seabream, Black Seabream, Unicorn Filefish, Olive Flounder, Yellowfin Puffer, Japanese Sea Bass and False Kelpfish. Also of note is a tall cylindrical tank of Japanese Pineconefish - supposedly Uozu Aquarium was the first to discover that this species is bioluminescent, when the aquarium lost power in 1914 and it was noticed these fish were emitting light. This area also contains a hideously small tank for no less than four large Banded Houndsharks - the tank is so small these sharks struggle to move around without colliding with the walls or each other. Next is a row of tanks in a jungle-themed area, exhibiting various exotic tropical freshwater fishes and herptiles such as Electric Catfish, West African Lungfish, Argentine Horned Frog, Carvalho's Surinam Toad, Blue Whale Catfish, Southeast Asian Box Turtle, Oriental Whip Snake, Yellow-headed Poison Frog, and catfish and tetra species that would be familiar to the freshwater aquarium hobbyist. Here too, the exhibits are painfully small - especially those for the Frilled Lizard and Yellow-headed Monitor, whose tanks were scarcely longer than the animal itself. Following this is a fairly unremarkable coral reef exhibit featuring typical Indo-Pacific tropical reef species, with little of note displayed in this area, besides a few Royal Grammas, which felt awkwardly out of place in an otherwise entirely Indo-Pacific exhibit. Next is the fish performance tanks, three bare tanks with a single Striped Beakfish each - I did not attend this performance. Nearby is a large South American freshwater tank (including Arapaima, Peacock Bass, Oscar, Silver Arowana and White-blotched River Stingray) and a small display of introduced species (Red Swamp Crayfish, Continental Rosy Bitterling and domestic form of Japanese Ricefish). Next is the Firefly Squid exhibit I had come to see, which also had Japanese Pygmy-squid and Webfoot Octopus on display. The Firefly Squid exhibit, besides their bioluminescent inhabitants, was an unremarkable bare tank and a smaller tank set up with a mirror to allow visitors to take a selfie with the squids. Next is an open-topped tank that the map labels as containing sea turtles, but on my visit it housed a large number of Olive Flounder. Strange. Last is three tanks allowing visitors to get hands-on - two styled after a Greek resort housing Red Garra, and a small tide pool touch tank with Blue Bat Stars and a variety of snails and aquatic hermit crabs.

Immediately outside the aquarium were a surprising number of birds, and it was here I picked up my lifer Oriental Greenfinch and Bull-headed Shrike.

Later in the afternoon I made a (briefer than anticipated) trip to Unazuki-onsen, a hot spring town on the Kurobe River. Upon finding almost everywhere there closed for the day already, I didn't spend long here but did see four Common Mergansers on the river. From the train from here to Nagano, at one station there was a small group of wild Japanese Macaques - my first (living) wild mammal of the trip. Unfortunately the view of these was brief, as the train quickly departed.

March 27 - Day 8 - Jigokudani Yaen-Koen
Unsatisfied with the exceptionally brief view of wild Japanese Macaques of the previous day, I headed out to Jigokudani Yaen-Koen to see more of these primates. Although labelled as a zoo on Google Maps, Jigokudani's macaques are wild troops that are lured in by feeding by park staff and a purpose-built onsen for them - they are not enclosed in any way. You can get here on a dedicated bus route from Nagano that takes you to Snow Monkey Park, but it is a further 40 minute (or so) hike from the bus stop to Jigokudani Yaen-Koen along a fairly flat (but potentially icy and/or muddy) track. Entrance to Jigokudani is ¥800 adult, but well worth it as you get a lot of monkey for your buck - countless macaques dot the hills, river and onsen. Being from mainland populations, the macaques here represent the nominate subspecies, Macaca fuscata fuscata (Hondo Macaque). It is truly a photographer's wonderland, with plenty of opportunities to get some fantastic shots of the macaques. Multiple signs along the track to Jigokudani mentioned the presence of Japanese Serows in the area, but I was never expecting to see one - but perched atop a steep incline, grazing quietly among the macaques, was one of these fantastic ungulates. With that, two of my four main mammal targets for the trip had been ticked off - all I need now is a Tanuki and an Asian Black Bear. I was not expecting to see any macaques using the onsen, as although there was still snow on the ground in some places, the weather was very mild on the day - however, I did see one macaque swimming in it, at points completely diving underwater to obtain some small foodstuff from crevices in the rock - what those morsels were, I haven't the slightest idea. Birds were sparse on the ground here, perhaps dissuaded from the area by the presence of so many macaques (which do eat bird eggs, after all), but I did see an Oriental Turtle Dove and a pair of Long-tailed Tits.

March 28 - Day 9 - Sunshine Aquarium

Before departing Nagano, I paid a visit to the Zenkoji Temple, a rather lovely complex of Buddhist temples with nice gardens. I took the opportunity to bird here - Oriental Greenfinches were plentiful, a welcome sight as my initial sighting of this species in Uozu was poor and very brief. Additionally, I saw here a total of six Long-tailed Tits, one of which was kind enough to perch in a nearby and low-down branch, and stay there just long enough for me to take a rather pleasing photo of this species (all my previous photos of Long-tailed Tits were blurred, distant, or both).

After arriving in Tokyo in the late afternoon, I took the opportunity to tick another aquarium off my to-do list - Sunshine Aquarium. Situated on the top floor of a sprawling shopping complex, Sunshine was by far the most expensive aquarium I've visited so far on this trip, with adult admission beingjiu ¥2600 (although, this is cheap in comparison to many Australian facilities). In this case, the increase in price certainly does not represent an increase in quantity or quality of exhibition. Exhibits for everything that wasn't a bird or a mammal were, on the whole were generally adequate. For the birds and mammals though, the situation was more dire. The crown jewels of Sunshine's mammal exhibitions, their pair of Baikal Seals, are kept in a tiny bathtub-like exhibit that was at its longest dimension, no more than 4 or 5 times the seal's body length, giving the seals little else to do besides float at the surface and occasionally fight with each other. I have no idea how much land space the seals were afforded as the land area is totally off-show to the public. The Asian Small-clawed Otters are confined to a tiny terrarium-like tank with insufficient water area to even properly swim. Three Great White Pelicans are kept in a bizarre runway-type tank suspended over visitors heads, and I'm not sure if the birds even had any land area. The California Sea Lion exhibit had no sign if its inhabitants, but it is a small, barren cylinder connected to a donut-shaped aerial runway. Very bizarre. The African Penguins at least have a somewhat roomier water area, but even still it felt small.

Another major gripe I have with Sunshine is its piss-poor signage - the vast majority of animals on display go completely unsigned - and those that are afforded signage only have their common name (in Japanese and English) displayed, no scientific name, and no additional information about the animal - because god forbid visitors know what they are looking at nor learn anything! Some signage didn't even give a species-specific name, with some alarming examples being "a kind of cuttlefish" and "a kind of sea nettle"! Quite often, even I was unsure quite what I was looking at. What little additional text in English that was displayed on the walls consisted almost solely of nice-sounding but meaningless slop such as "Earth, a paradise in our universe". It seems the educational content of their exhibition was exceedingly low on Sunshine's priorities.

The one redeeming factor Sunshine has in it's favour is some pretty neat species on display - including the eel-goby Odontoamblyopus lacepedii, the armoured gurnard Peristedion orientalis, five or so species of mormyrids, Kobi Cuttlefish, Japanese Hairtail, the giant isopods Bathynomus giganteus and B. doederleinii, Australian Ghostshark, the aforementioned Baikal Seal, Splitfin Flashlightfish, and an impressive collection of Indo-Pacific butterflyfishes. Perhaps not an unusual species for a Japanese facility, but I did quite enjoy the display of Ayu - a local species of freshwater fish related to smelts, but belonging to it's own family.

March 29 - Day 10 - A city day with the family, didn't do anything relevant to ZooChat.

 

[Chlidonias]

Those photos were taken at the Snow Monkey Park?! Was there no snow left there now? This is what it was like when I visited on 19 February.

I don't think the macaques are fed there. They just come for the hot springs and outside winter they aren't guaranteed to be seen.

 

[Dassie rat]

March 25 - Day 6 - Kanazawa
First stop in Kanazawa was Omi-cho Seafood Market for lunch - but not before perusing the stalls to see some odd and unfamiliar fish - most dead, of course, but a handful of stalls had live holding tanks - in which I saw Black Scrapers, Red Queen Crabs (a specialty of western Japan) and a Grass Puffer.

Grass puffer - Wikipedia says the grass puffer is a popular pet. Its intestines contain the extremely potent pufferfish poison tetrodotoxin that is potentially lethal to humans. Were there any restrictions on its purchase?

 

[DaLilFishie]

Grass puffer - Wikipedia says the grass puffer is a popular pet. Its intestines contain the extremely potent pufferfish poison tetrodotoxin that is potentially lethal to humans. Were there any restrictions on its purchase?

The puffer would not have been sold alive to customers - it was in the tank of a small restaurant, and would have been served as sashimi after being prepared by a trained chef.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Those photos were taken at the Snow Monkey Park?! Was there no snow left there now?

There was some snow left in patches, but it was mostly gone.

I don't think the macaques are fed there. They just come for the hot springs and outside winter they aren't guaranteed to be seen.

I saw staff members scattering pellets for the macaques at one point. Perhaps they only do this outside of winter when the hot springs alone aren't enough to entice the macaques?

 

[Chlidonias]

I saw staff members scattering pellets for the macaques at one point. Perhaps they only do this outside of winter when the hot springs alone aren't enough to entice the macaques?

That's interesting. All the tourist stuff I saw there was specifying that they aren't fed.

 

[DaLilFishie]

My apologies for the abrupt hiatus on this thread, but I hadn't forgotten!

March 30 - Day 11 - Ueno Zoo and Sumida Aquarium

This day's priority was Ueno Zoo, a facility I was quite excited about visiting, for a number of rare species kept there (plus more common species for Japanese facilities that I'd never seen as no Australian zoos hold them). Admission is a modest ¥600 adult.

As I visited on a weekend, the crowds were insane. The visitor areas in Ueno Zoo are pretty spacious so this wasn't much of an issue outside, but the indoor areas (eg the Vivarium, Small Mammal House, nocturnal houses, large mammal indoor areas) were extremely crowded and often required queueing for a lengthy period to even get inside. This, combined with me arriving at about midday, meant there simply wasn't enough time to see everything, so I regrettably had to skip some exhibits, such as most of the megafauna exhibits and the nocturnal house near the Bird House. No pangolin for me!

Visitors should be aware that many animals at Ueno go off-exhibit before the closing time of the zoo - I was not aware of this, and it resulted in me missing seeing my main target, the Rock Ptarmigan (a species I would, regrettably, not see at all).

Many of Ueno's exhibits were, in no exaggeration, appalling. The worst offender was the Small Mammal House. Almost every enclosure here is minuscule for its inhabitants and enrichment seems to be nil - many animals here are kept in totally bare, clinical-looking exhibits with, if the animals are lucky, a small hide. Some animals did not appear to have access to drinking water. @Chlidonias has already voiced his opinion on the enclosures here for the treeshrew and tarsier, but these are among the more spacious for their inhabitants here - worse is a minuscule tank, at a size I would feel bad keeping a Siamese Fighting Fish in, for no less than five Cairo Spiny Mice, bare except for 2 small stones. Many of the yards for large mammals also seemed small, but this seems to be a trend in Japanese facilities so I don't think I can fault Ueno alone for this.

Definitely the highlight of Ueno for me was the bird exhibitions. The two-storey Bird House had reopened from its closure (due to avian influenza fears) only a few days before my visit. As a result, fewer species were displayed here than normally are, but I was very glad to be able to see it at all. The Great Slaty Woodpecker, which I've heard is the last of its species in captivity, is still on display.

That night, I also paid a visit to Sumida Aquarium, located only a short distance from Tokyo Skytree. Admission is ¥2500 adult, quite a bit steeper than expected! To describe Sumida Aquarium in one word, I would choose 'underwhelming'. The first area has a number of large, manicured freshwater planted tanks, which are certainly pretty to look at but all the animals displayed here are species you could easily see in a pet shop - Cardinal Tetras, Boeseman's Rainbowfish, Amano Shrimp and the like. Following is a jelly exhibit similar to that of Kyoto Aquarium, but with fewer species displayed, and an enormous kidney-shaped tank sunk into the floor that contains thousands of Moon Jellies. After that, the aquarium opens up into its dimly-lit main hall, centred around a large Magellanic Penguin exhibit. This room also has a large 'Sea of Ogasawara' tank, housing (amongst others) Sand Tiger Sharks, Bluestriped Snappers, Pacific Chubs, a soldierfish species, Black Jack and Giant Trevally. Adjacent to this is a series of smaller tanks also exhibiting species from the Ogasawara Islands - including Ogasawara Leaping Blenny, Natal Lightfoot Crab, Ogasawara Crab, Ogasawara Goby, Clark's Anemonefish, juvenile Green Sea Turtles and Wrought Iron Butterflyfish - most completely unsigned, so I'm relying on @Chlidonias 's identifications for some of these. A series of three larger coral reef-themed tanks - albeit only one of them containing any coral - house (among a slew of largely unremarkable species), Spotted Garden Eel, Splendid Garden Eel, Whitespotted Garden Eel, Pacific Crown Toby, Ryukyu Fairywrasse, Japanese Anthias, Speckled Blue Grouper and Blue-barred Parrotfish - yet again, all unsigned. Adjacent to the Magellanic Penguins is a tiny enclosure for multiple South American Sea Lions, and the final exhibit, named the 'Edo-quarium' displays numerous breeds of Goldfish traditionally kept in Japan. While I can appreciate the historic value of this (signage here discusses the history of goldfish breeding in Japan and China), this exhibit was of little interest to me - I don't visit aquariums to see man-made freaks! The tanks for these goldfish vary in shape and size, from adequately-sized rectangular and circular tanks, to tiny cubes no larger than the average goldfish bowl - all completely bare, devoid of any substrate, plants or decoration.

Overall, I can't bring myself to recommend Sumida Aquarium, it is simply way overpriced and has little on offer. It seems to me a place designed more for nice social media photos than anything else.

 

[Chlidonias]

Adjacent to this is a series of smaller tanks also exhibiting species from the Ogasawara Islands - including Ogasawara Leaping Blenny, Natal Lightfoot Crab, Ogasawara Crab, Ogasawara Goby, Clark's Anemonefish, juvenile Green Sea Turtles and Wrought Iron Butterflyfish - most completely unsigned, so I'm relying on @Chlidonias 's identifications for some of these.

These little tanks had signage but it wasn't on the actual tanks - it was all off to the side on the back of the seating. It wasn't obvious at all, and if anyone was sitting there you wouldn't have seen it.

A series of three larger coral reef-themed tanks - albeit only one of them containing any coral - house (among a slew of largely unremarkable species), Spotted Garden Eel, Splendid Garden Eel, Whitespotted Garden Eel, Pacific Crown Toby, Ryukyu Fairywrasse, Japanese Anthias, Speckled Blue Grouper and Blue-barred Parrotfish - yet again, all unsigned.

For these tanks the signage was on the end of each tank (the end nearest the penguins).

 

[DaLilFishie]

These little tanks had signage but it wasn't on the actual tanks - it was all off to the side on the back of the seating. It wasn't obvious at all, and if anyone was sitting there you wouldn't have seen it.


For these tanks the signage was on the end of each tank (the end nearest the penguins).

Geez, I wasn't expecting to have to play hide-and-seek for the signage!!

 

[Chlidonias]

Geez, I wasn't expecting to have to play hide-and-seek for the signage!!

I got the feeling they don't want the signage interfering with their "look". But at least they have scientific names on them.

 

[DaLilFishie]

March 31 - Day 12 - Kasai Rinkai Park and Tokyo Sea Life Park

Upon arrival at Kasai Rinkai Park, I was immediately greeted by a noisy group of Azure-winged Magpies - my main target for birding here! I had arrived at about 8:30, an hour before Tokyo Sea Life Park opens, so I took the opportunity to bird for an hour. I immediately headed to one of the two artificial islands, accessible by a bridge (the other island is inaccessible to the public, a protected Ramsar site for seabirds), where there were large numbers of ducks - included amongst them my lifers Greater Scaup and Common Pochard. Amongst a flock of Black-headed Gulls were two Black-tailed Gulls, which was the first and only time I saw them in Japan. Strange.

When Tokyo Sea Life Park opened, I headed straight for it to avoid the worst of the crowds - it was still busy, but not exceptionally so. I was surprised to see that Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks were no longer displayed in the very first tank, which has been converted into a large reef tank with live corals. The tank's former inhabitants have been moved into the main tuna tank - however, there was no sign of the Indonesian Whaler Shark that was displayed when I last visited in 2019.

Unwilling to risk forgetting these, as I did on my previous 2019 visit to this facility, I immediately headed to the deep sea and polar displays. Among these were many interesting deep sea invertebrates and small benthic fishes - these include, but are not limited to, the newly described Moonstone Chromis, Azuma Perchlet, the armoured gurnard Peristedion orientale, Sea Toad, stalked sea lilies, Pallid Carrier Shells (a snail that incorporates other shells, rocks and coral fragments into it's shell), Greenland Shrimp, Giant Isopod and Winged Triton. Larger species displayed include Japanese Sawsharks, Spotted Ratfish, John Dory, Ara, Pacific Barrelfish, Japanese Spider Crab and the rare Sailfin Armourhead. The nearby polar tanks, which I had tragically walked straight past in 2019, held the first Antarctic fishes I had ever seen - a single specimen of the fascinating (if aesthetically lacking) Bald Notothen - one of the southernmost-dwelling fishes and so specialised for the subzero Antarctic seas that it will perish if water temperatures rise to only 6°C - and a pair of Antarctic Spiny Plunderfish, a squat bottom-dweller that works in pairs to protect their eggs, prising any intruding gastropods or sea stars from the rocks and depositing them away from the nest. Even if these fish barely moved, these were still a highlight of Tokyo Sea Life Park for me.

The main open ocean tank where the tuna are kept had changed species composition since 2019 - gone was the juvenile Tiger Shark and in it's place were the former inhabitants of the entrance tank - a much more suitable home for these than the small tank they were once kept in. Of course, the Pacific Bluefin Tuna were still here, and I spent a long time sitting ad watching them. Just stunning animals, they are.

The Seas of the World area was largely unchanged from 2019, but what I was once an East Pacific display with Giant Hawkfish now represents northwestern Australia, with it's endemic Margined Coralfish, the lesser-known sister species of the Copperband Butterflyfish. The tank housing the rare Nurseryfish was fully illuminated (on my 2019 visit, the lights were turned off), allowing much better views of this most unusual species, floating almost motionless in place like a fish possessed.

The displays of local marine species which I had largely skipped over in 2019 were much more interesting than I recalled - a large outdoor pool with simulated wave action housed a wide array of smaller fishes and invertebrates - good luck spotting any of the cryptic species in here such as the Yatabe Blenny, Moss Fringehead and Snake Triplefin! This display also housed a nice collection of puffers of the genus Takifugu - those most prized for the preparation of the sashimi dish fugu - such as T. rubripes, T. pardalis and T. snyderi. Indoors were the tanks for species of the Izu and Ogasawara Islands, a subtropical archipelago southwest of Tokyo home to many endemic species. Highlight species were the Ogasawara Leaping-Blenny, a terrestrial species that springs over intertidal rocks with surprising agility that puts mudskippers to shame, Japanese Pygmy Angelfish, Striped Boarfish and Wrought-iron Butterflyfish.

New, it seems, was a small display of threatened local freshwater species inside the main aquarium building, exhibiting Smallscale Bitterling, Japanese Fire-bellied Newt and the recently-described (2022) Proto Wrinkled Frog.

A complete surprise housed in a temporary display tank adjacent the Izu-Ogasawara zone was the wonderful pelagic amphipod Phronima sedentaria - a transparent little crustacean that with its elongated head, long grasping legs and (proportionally) huge claws, looks all the world like a miniature marine xenomorph. It's feeding habits are equally gruesome - the Phronima attacks salps - gelatinous planktonic relatives of sea squirts - consuming their victim's organs until it is left as a hollow husk - which the Phronima then crawls inside and uses as both shelter and as a spawning medium. Tokyo Sea Life Park's solo specimen was unfortunately missing it's salp corpse, instead swimming nude in barrelling loops around it's kreisel-type tank. This species has never been maintained long-term in captivity, and it is likely that as I am writing this that the species is no longer exhibited.

After finishing at Tokyo Sea Life Park (and spending more than I'd like to admit at their great gift shop), I had a half hour before I needed to leave Kasai Rinkai Park, with which I made a brief visit to the freshwater ponds to the east of the aquarium, where I picked up my lifers Northern Shoveler, with huge numbers present, and Black-faced Spoonbill. Unfortunately, my target Tanuki and Common Kingfisher were nowhere to be seen.

April 1st - 3rd - Days 13 - 15
These three days were spent in the Fuji Five Lakes District, where unfortunately unseasonally heavy snowfall had dashed most of my animal and nature-related plans as many roads were closed, making getting around much more difficult than it should have been. I did manage to get 2 new species here though - poor views of Masked Bunting and Barbel Steed, a freshwater fish resembling an elongated carp in the shallows of Lake Kawaguchi-ko.

April 4th - Day 16 - Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium

Largely a travel day between Fuji Five Lakes District and Kyoto, but via Nagoya for Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium. However, in the morning in Fuji Five Lakes District I heard a strange guttural call coming from a patch of bamboo near the hotel I stayed at - going to investigate, I found it was a handsome male Green Pheasant! Seemed strange to find such a bird in a suburban area, the bird was somewhat wary but seemed happy to forage around if I kept my distance.

Travel between locations took considerably longer than anticipated, so I arrived at Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium a mere 90 minutes before closing! As a result I had to skip part of the tropical reef zone and Australian freshwater display (I didn't come all the way to Japan to see Australian fish, after all!). The cetacean complex here was surprisingly good - say what you will about Japanese cetacean captivity, but the conditions for the animals seemed (to me, a relative layman on cetaceans) relatively good - tanks here were significantly larger than any other cetacean displays I'd seen in Japan. Four species are kept here - Orca (which, now that subspecies are recognised, are the nominate O. orca orca), Pacific White-sided Dolphin, a bottlenose species and Beluga. Both Beluga and Orca were exciting to see as no Australian facilities keep them, and I'd not seen either anywhere else in Japan.

The Large Kuroshio Tank, as I believe it's called, is nothing short of stunning. Curiously, the large sharks I was told were displayed here were nowhere to be seen, but I was much more excited to see the magnificent Mahi-mahi - although often depicted as yellow-green, that colouration is only taken on by stressed or otherwise excited Mahi - their resting tone is a amazingly shiny steel-blue. Beneath the immense shoal of Japanese Sardines was a small group of Blue Mackerel, joined by a lone Pilotfish - a surprise to see and apparently a recent addition to the display. I'm used to thinking of this species as an associate of sharks and other very large animals, so seeing one tailing a shoal of mackerel, each only barely larger than the Pilotfish itself, was a strange sight.

The deep sea displays here were truly a treat. Highlights included Acutenose Skate, Clouded Angelshark, Japanese Sawshark, Japanese Splendid-perch (not a perch at all, but I definitely would describe them as splendid!), Mini-pizza Batfish, Giant Triangular Batfish, Brown Hagfish, the sea spider Ascorhynchus japonicus, and the sea cucumber Laetomogone maculata. In addition to live exhibits, the deep sea zone includes preserved specimens, light projection displays and replicas of historic artefacts relating to deep-sea exploration.

The part I was most excited for was the Antarctic exhibits, not only of Emperor Penguin but of fishes native to the Southern Ocean. On display was Bald Notothen, Mawson's Dragonfish and Emerald Notothen, each with one individual each, and a small number of Antarctic Krill. The Emperor Penguins too were absolutely magnificent - I knew they were the largest penguin but I didn't properly appreciate just how enormous they were until seeing them in person. Unfortunately, with only 2 individuals left (and, I believe, no intention to breed them - I don't know if their pair are even the opposite sex), the species' days at Nagoya may be numbered. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay with the birds for long before I was ushered out by staff as the aquarium was closing soon.

April 5th - Day 17 - Lake Biwa Museum

The Lake Biwa Museum complex is quite large and you could easily spend a full day there - but I'd only planned a few hours so I focused on the aquarium wing. I believe there are other exhibitions of live animals elsewhere in the museum (I've seen an instagram post from the museum mentioning a display of a native mouse species), but I don't know what else is kept outside of the aquarium wing.

Getting to the museum from Kyoto, where I was staying, is not difficult via public transport, and it is doable as a day trip out of Kyoto.

The aquarium wing boasts every fish species and subspecies endemic to Lake Biwa - of which I saw all except the spined loach Cobitis minamorii oumiensis (named so from an older name for Lake Biwa, the Sea of Ohmi). Unfortunately, some months before I visited, the large cylindrical tank that housed the Giant Lake Biwa Catfish had leaked, flooding an area of the aquarium wing. As repairs were ongoing, that tank (as well as the nearby tanks for Ko-ayu, Biwa Trout and deepwater species of Lake Biwa) was blocked off to visitors and not visible. However, these species were moved to other tanks so they were still visible to visitors, just in less impressive displays.

One surprising exhibit, called 'Into the Micro-world' or something along those lines, displays various micro-organisms found in Lake Biwa - by means of microscopes and enlarged projections from a camera behind the tanks- such as small crustaceans, planktonic algae, flatworms, hydra, snails, and the polyp stage of the 'Freshwater Jellyfish' Craspedicusta sowerbii - which is not a true jellyfish, but rather a hydrozoan. C. sowerbii is not native to Japan (it's origin being the Yangtze Basin), but it's ability to enter a drying-resistant dormant form has allowed it to colonise freshwater habitats on every continent except Antarctica on human-transported objects used in fresh water, such as aquatic plants and watercraft.

As well as local species, the museum exhibits animals from three other of the world's 'ancient lakes' - Baikal, Tanganyika and Malawi, and an assortment of sturgeons. The two African lakes were represented by a variety of cichlid species (many of which seem to be rarer in aquaria, rather than the pet shop assortment of mbuna) and Nile Perch. Baikal, on the other hand, is represented by shallow-water fishes like the Baikal Sturgeon, Northern Pike, Freshwater Bream and Eurasian Minnow, as well as a Baikal Seal. Unfortunately, the enclosure for the seal here is scarcely better than the horribly small one at Sunshine Aquarium, the only real difference being the Museum's Seal is kept by itself with no companion. The better-lit seal exhibit at the Museum allowed for better photography than at Sunshine, but I do worry for the seal's quality of life in a sterile, barren glass cubicle.

I was very much impressed by the exhibits for native fishes and invertebrates. Several large tanks are set up as outdoor ponds, which can be viewed from the exterior of the Museum, but have a glass-panelled side that can be viewed from indoors to allow underwater viewing. The tunnel tank exhibiting offshore lake fishes was also a highlight - I'd never before seen a freshwater tunnel tank. Unfortunately for the anglophone visitor, English signage for many exhibits is poor - often English common names for native species are not signed, instead being listed as 'a chub', 'a bitterling', 'a crucian carp' or the like. I'd recommend using google translate to read the Japanese blurbs for the species, as these contain interesting information for species that have very little information about them on the English internet. Did you know the Ginbuna (Carassius langsdorfii) is an entirely female species that reproduces by gynogenesis? I sure didn't!

After finishing in the aquarium wing and checking out the excellent gift shop, I headed out to the treetop walkway at the back of the museum for birding. Here I got my lifer Brambling, as well as better views of Asian Tit than I had gotten elsewhere.

April 6th - Day 18 - Kyoto City Zoo

Starting to get worried I wouldn't see a Tanuki, as my time in Japan was quickly coming to an end and all attempts to see the species in the wild had failed, I cancelled my sightseeing plans for this morning in Kyoto to make a visit to Kyoto City Zoo (also known as Kyoto Municipal Zoo) after reading online that they have a Tanuki. I also especially wanted to see their Red Fox and Black Bear (both the subspecies present in Honshu) - perhaps boring and familiar species to European and North American Zoochatters, but pretty exotic for me!

Kyoto City Zoo is not large, and it is possible to comfortably see everything there in one morning. It is the second oldest zoo in the country (Ueno is the oldest) and it's age really shows, especially in enclosure design, many of which are more reminiscent of bestiary cages and dog kennels than the zoo exhibits I'm used to. The zoo does, however, have a few interesting species on display. Cape Hyrax, Bush Dog, Japanese Badger, Falcated Duck and Tsushima Leopard Cat were particular highlights.

Unfortunately, the Tanuki enclosure was empty with a sign posted on the front saying their Tanuki had died recently. I wouldn't see any, wild or captive, for the rest of my time in Japan. Oh well.

In the afternoon, I headed to Kinkaku-ji Castle (who goes to Kyoto without seeing it???), not expecting to see much wildlife of interest, but I did snag two lifers there - a pair of handsome Mandarin Ducks, and Japanese Ricefish (which has been split into 2 species - the southern Oryzias latipes and the northern Oryzias sakaizumii. The two are very similar and while Kyoto fish 'should' be O. latipes based off range, O. sakaizumii occurs very close by so the fish I saw are only tentatively identified as the southern O. latipes). I thought at the time I also had my lifer Gadwall here, after looking back at pictures from earlier in the trip I realised I'd seen the species several times in various places prior, but had simply noted them as 'duck sp.' as I didn't recognise them.

April 7th - Day 19 - Kobe
This was a day trip to Kobe to see Himeji Castle. There is a zoo adjacent to the castle, but after reading unfavourable reviews online, and what little information I could find online about their collection listed nothing of interest, I decided to not bother visiting. I did, however, get my lifer Grass Carp (an introduced species in Japan, as it is in many other places) in the castle moat. These can easily be mistaken for Cyprinus spp. carps, but the shape of the lips distinguishes the two.

April 8th - Day 20 - Osaka Aquarium

This was my last day in Japan, and as my flight departed from Osaka, what better way to spend the last day than revisiting Osaka Aquarium, the first Japanese aquarium I'd ever been to. As for Port of Nagoya, I had underestimated the time to actually get there so only had one hour to spend at Osaka Aquarium, but as I'd already visited twice prior I didn't mind skipping over some areas. Most notably, the large Great Barrier Reef tank had been completely renovated since my last visit, with a different array of species on display (but as before, including many not found on the Great Barrier Reef!!)

The Ocean Sunfish had been moved out of their horribly small tank and into the large Pacific Ocean tank - and their old tank now housed three Giant Pacific Octopus. I hope the staff know what they're doing with this combination as it seems like an excellent way to end up with one well-fed octopus!! It was, however, very cool to see these animals in a tank that allows them to properly spread out and even jet around, rather than the small displays octopuses are typically kept in. Speaking of the Pacific Ocean tank, on my visit it contained two Whale Sharks (the number varies periodically, as Osaka has frequent deaths if their Whale Sharks), and much to my surprise a Reef Manta.

Unfortunately, the smaller deep sea tanks adjacent to the Japan Deeps tank are no longer there - the space now dedicated to an expansion of the cafe. The main Japan Deeps tank did however have a new addition - a Mandarin Dogfish.

I was especially interested in seeing the displays of Arctic fishes and invertebrates - which included, but were not limited to, Blue King Crab, Slender Eelblenny, Arctic Alligatorfish and Shiretoko Sea Angel (Clione elegantissima, split from C. limacina). The hideously small enclosures for Ringed Seals and Southern Rockhopper Penguins remain, but thankfully the Maldives-themed shark and ray touch tank has been removed - it was far too small for some of its inhabitants, especially the large rays that struggled to move around without colliding with the sides and filter intakes. The touch tank area is currently being used for an artsy temporary smaller Great Barrier Reef display, with relatively few tanks containing live corals, Yellowbanded Pipefish, Ribbon Eel and Festive Parrotfish.

 

[Veno]

Thanks for your fair and well-written review of the facilities.
The current Tokyo Sea Life Park is expected to close in the next few years, so your recent visit may have been your last. However, a brand-new Tokyo Sea Life Park is scheduled to open in 2028, and we can look forward to a completely renewed exhibition space.

The core concept will remain unchanged—there will be no sea lion or dolphin shows. The new facility will continue to specialize in fish collections from diverse aquatic regions around the world, including the Arctic, Antarctic, deep sea, open ocean, and coral reefs.

Interestingly, even as someone who isn’t particularly into fish, I found it exciting that there are plans to exhibit the Spectacled Guillemot as part of an ex-situ conservation effort.
It would be great to see the new Tokyo Sea Life Park continue its role as Japan’s equivalent of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

(Reference: 葛西臨海水族園が2028年にリニューアル、巨大水槽でクロマグロ展示は継続予定)

 

[DaLilFishie]

Unfortunately, the enclosure for the seal here is scarcely better than the horribly small one at Sunshine Aquarium, the only real difference being the Museum's Seal is kept by itself with no companion. The better-lit seal exhibit at the Museum allowed for better photography than at Sunshine, but I do worry for the seal's quality of life in a sterile, barren glass cubicle.

I didn't take any pictures of the enclosure, but Lake Biwa Museum has posted images showing the whole enclosure (while drained for cleaning - when full the water reaches the level of the faux-ice shelf), which should give an idea of what I'm talking about in regards to size. The seal is visible between the two people sitting on chairs.

 

[DaLilFishie]

I believe there are other exhibitions of live animals elsewhere in the museum (I've seen an instagram post from the museum mentioning a display of a native mouse species), but I don't know what else is kept outside of the aquarium wing.

I found the post that mentioned these to remember what species the mice are - they are Eurasian Harvest Mice.