Japan's Marine Life & Sea Creatures

About this book

Japan's sea is two countries at once: the drift-ice water of the north and the coral water of the south, and both are crowded with neighbours — blue whales and firefly squid, green turtles and giant spider crabs, glass sponges and forests of tube worms living in total darkness. This complete English guide presents 200 entries in one fixed, easy-to-use format. Nine parts present the creatures themselves: the great whales; dolphins, seals and the dugong; sea turtles, sharks and rays; the ocean giants and great game fish; the painted crowds of reef and shore; the tidepool world; squid, octopus and their kin; the armoured host of crabs and prawns; and the deep sea, where Japan's own submersibles have met frilled sharks and vampire squid. A tenth part turns to the glowing sea and the watching culture — the bays, boats, festivals, shrines and calendars through which Japan meets its ocean, closing with a Watcher's Calendar that assembles the whole marine year. Each entry gives the creature and its sea, its place in Japanese history and culture, the practical craft of watching it well, and its seasons and protection — and changeable facts (tour operations, protected-area rules, fishery seasons) are never asserted as settled: every entry closes by pointing you to the official source to confirm before you go. Plan a whole Japan trip by its sea creatures, or simply learn why the Japanese have watched, named and honoured them for a thousand years.

Written and created in Japan by Japanese author Aki Wakamatsu. Published by Takikawa TOKOTOKO Kids LLC, a Japanese publisher in Hokkaido, Japan. Authentic Japanese content, carefully made in Japan — not mass-produced.