help for Japan, budget-ish (1 Viewer)

so I am half-decided on adding Japan to my current trip, probably around December/January in order to see Steller's sea eagles. Obviously I don't want to blow out my backpacker's budget but I gather Japan is also pretty expensive and those two things don't really go together. I'll be on public transport everywhere because I don't drive.

What would be the main places in Japan to go? NZers get a three month free visa for Japan and while I wouldn't be able to afford to stay that long, it does give me quite a bit of leeway in getting around.

I'm particularly keen on Hokkaido for the sea eagle and fish owl; Okinawa for the Ryukyu giant rat and Okinawa rail; Amami for the rabbit; and Iriomote for the cat. Any other places with interesting birds, mammals, etc, will be considered. I have no plan for an entry point (although I figure Tokyo would be the obvious one) but I think I can leave (to Taiwan) from the island next to Iriomote.

I don't have much time for searching through lots of websites because I'm on the road so if anyone can give some run-downs for anywhere such as the Hokkaido spots, e.g. where to stay, how to get there by public transport, things like that...would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Me again . . .

Peach Airlines for travel swiftly from end to end:

http://www.flypeach.com/route/routemap.aspx

You can hop from Taipei to Okinawa to Iriomote to Kansai to Sapporo and provided you get the early bird deals I'd be amazed if you could do the journey any cheaper.

Hokkaido also has other great birds such as Tufted Puffin at its eastern end and the best spot for Asian Brown Bear is the Shiretoko Peninsula which is in the same area of Eastern Hokkaido (but not sure about bus access) - and last time I was at Furen I fluked a Sea Otter off Nemuro.

I assume camping will be cheaper but I would still recommend staying with Matsuo San at Lake Furen - who knows all the birds and locations, speaks English and is extremely hospitable.

matsuo-t AT plum.plala.or.jp

When I last stayed there the deal was 6,200 yen per night for a room and 2 wonderful meals.

If you join the Kantori (english language birding newsgroup) you'll see lots of reports of Asian Black Bear from the Japan Alps - look for postings from Chris Cook. This area also hold Ptarmigan and Copper Pheasant.

And finally . . .

The ferry from Oarai near Tokyo to Tomakomai (or vice-versa) is a great seawatching opportunity to come back from Hokkaido - Laysan and Black-footed Albatross are the stars, Streaked and Short-tailed Shearwaters abound.

Cheers
Mike

Peach Airlines is definitely the way to go. My main problem with booking ahead (for flights and accommodation) is that if I go after China which would be best time-of-year-wise I won't know exactly when that would be because my length of time in China depends on the visa extensions (i.e. I understand that the first one month extension to the Chinese visa is easy but the second one sometimes isn't, depending on who you deal with). I'll just have to see how it goes. Ooh, actually if go there and back via Taiwan then that wouldn't be a problem because I'd just allow time for Taiwan first, and it doesn't matter if it ends up being cut short because I'll be going back through there afterwards. Good plan I think.

Sea otter and tufted puffin sounds brilliant, and also harlequin ducks which I just remembered. Hokkaido sounds like the best place to be. (But I think it might be a tad cold for camping there in winter, no?).

What's the ferry like for winter? Rough weather?

I just used XE to find out how much 62,000 yen was in New Zealand dollars (NZ$786) and thought "um, yeah no" but then I realised you wrote 6,200 yen which is much more acceptable!

MKinHK said:

I assume camping will be cheaper but I would still recommend staying with Matsuo San at Lake Furen -

Click to expand...

Camping may be just a little tough in Hokkaido in winter..............!