foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member
Japan had long been to me an exotic land of mystery and iconic birds that I would almost certainly never get to visit. But last summer the opportunity arose for me to potentially be there at some point over the coming winter - either in Tokyo in early December 2019, Osaka early in the New Year or Fukuoka in late February 2020. An RFI on the Information Wanted & Japan sub-forums generated a lot of useful information; the general opinion was that the latter date would be the best option.
So the ticket to the event I wanted to attend was duly booked for 22nd February and then began the job of planning a birding trip around that date. The initial plan was to tack a few days on in Hokkaido either beforehand or afterward. As it was still only late July I assumed I had plenty of time so set about reading some trip reports. It soon became clear from these that I may have already left it too late to secure accommodation at the usual birders locations for my target species. Indeed I failed to get any response to my inquiries from the famous owl spot. By early August though I was armed with an e-mail address for the rightly renowned Take-san and he had soon booked me in to the Onsen for one night in the week leading up to my commitment, in return for my booking 2 nights at his Lodge. This allowed the first internal flight and hire car to be booked.
As I was going to be on Kyushu anyway I decided to add a few days there so another car and more accommodation was arranged. I then started looking into the international flights, at first intending to go straight to Hokkaido and return from Kyushu. But most of the cheaper options involved multiple stops and a long total time plus stopovers in China - which given what transpired with Covid-19 I'm glad I didn't do. Having decided flights into and out of Tokyo would be better, that meant I would be on Honshu at the beginning and end of the trip so, wanting to fit in as much as possible in what would probably literally be a trip of a lifetime, I added a few days in the mountains at the start and the flight schedule that gave me the best deal in terms of price and convenience resulted in three days at the end of the trip that remained unplanned but with half an idea in mind. So the long-haul flight tickets, another car, more internal flights and further hotel rooms were booked - the former of which meant I could no longer add any further time to the holiday!
As mentioned, I had a lot of help from Birdforum members so many thanks to: kb57 for all the useful information and the time you put in ; kittykat23uk (Jo) for the trip report and Take-san's contact details; birdboybowley for reminding me about his great trip report - sorry Adam for 'borrowing' large sections of your itinerary; amears - Andy, for pointing me towards Julian Hough's report and the other useful information; MKinHK - Mike thanks for putting me on to the Kantori facebook group.
I used Helm "Birds of Japan" (Brazil) for ID, "A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan" (Brazil) as a site guide and the Michelin Map (802) for planning.
I downloaded the relevant Google Maps to allow me to use them off-line.
Flights were booked through Expedia, Kiwi or Kayak; cars through Rentalcars; and accommodation (except for Take-san's help) through Trivago.
So the ticket to the event I wanted to attend was duly booked for 22nd February and then began the job of planning a birding trip around that date. The initial plan was to tack a few days on in Hokkaido either beforehand or afterward. As it was still only late July I assumed I had plenty of time so set about reading some trip reports. It soon became clear from these that I may have already left it too late to secure accommodation at the usual birders locations for my target species. Indeed I failed to get any response to my inquiries from the famous owl spot. By early August though I was armed with an e-mail address for the rightly renowned Take-san and he had soon booked me in to the Onsen for one night in the week leading up to my commitment, in return for my booking 2 nights at his Lodge. This allowed the first internal flight and hire car to be booked.
As I was going to be on Kyushu anyway I decided to add a few days there so another car and more accommodation was arranged. I then started looking into the international flights, at first intending to go straight to Hokkaido and return from Kyushu. But most of the cheaper options involved multiple stops and a long total time plus stopovers in China - which given what transpired with Covid-19 I'm glad I didn't do. Having decided flights into and out of Tokyo would be better, that meant I would be on Honshu at the beginning and end of the trip so, wanting to fit in as much as possible in what would probably literally be a trip of a lifetime, I added a few days in the mountains at the start and the flight schedule that gave me the best deal in terms of price and convenience resulted in three days at the end of the trip that remained unplanned but with half an idea in mind. So the long-haul flight tickets, another car, more internal flights and further hotel rooms were booked - the former of which meant I could no longer add any further time to the holiday!
As mentioned, I had a lot of help from Birdforum members so many thanks to: kb57 for all the useful information and the time you put in ; kittykat23uk (Jo) for the trip report and Take-san's contact details; birdboybowley for reminding me about his great trip report - sorry Adam for 'borrowing' large sections of your itinerary; amears - Andy, for pointing me towards Julian Hough's report and the other useful information; MKinHK - Mike thanks for putting me on to the Kantori facebook group.
I used Helm "Birds of Japan" (Brazil) for ID, "A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan" (Brazil) as a site guide and the Michelin Map (802) for planning.
I downloaded the relevant Google Maps to allow me to use them off-line.
Flights were booked through Expedia, Kiwi or Kayak; cars through Rentalcars; and accommodation (except for Take-san's help) through Trivago.
