Japan's Reptiles & Amphibians

About this book

Japan keeps a second, quieter animal kingdom beneath the famous one of cranes and monkeys — in the irrigation pond behind the farmhouse, in the foam nest over a mountain pool, in the clear headwater stream where a salamander longer than a man's arm holds its rock for fifty years. This guide puts that whole kingdom between two covers: 200 entries in one fixed, four-part format — the snakes of field and forest from the great blue rat snake to the habu of the southern cane fields; the skinks, grass lizards and banded ground geckos; the frogs of the rice paddies and the frogs of the mountain streams; the hidden multitude of the salamanders, in the country with one of the richest salamander faunas on Earth; the turtles of pond, river and forest floor; and the island endemics of the Nansei chain and Ogasawara. Closing parts cover the watching culture of sanctuaries and festivals, a watcher's calendar for the whole Japanese year, and the craft, ethics and law of watching well. Every entry gives the animal and its world, its history and culture, the craft of watching it at a respectful distance, and the seasons, safety notes and official check to make before you go. Sea turtles are treated in the companion marine volume; this book keeps to the land and the fresh water.

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.