Your host, Andrew
First came to Japan (Obihiro, Hokkaido) as a high school exchange student in 1989 (12 months).
Vistited Japan again in 1991 (Obihiro, 6 months) and 1992 (Nagoya, 12 months).
B.A. (Asian Studies) from Flinders University, Dip. Ed. from University of Adelaide.
Former Australian Army Reserve soldier, 10/27 RSAR. Usually section lead scout (“Scouts can do anything!”)
Current practitioner of karate (Traditional Okinawan Goju Ryu Federation, previously practiced Shotokan under the Japan Karate Association) and aikido (Aikikai).
Japanese resident since 1999.
Contact Wild in Japan
Wild in Japan 
>Japanese resident since 1999.
What country are you from? I’m an American. I have been living in Japan since 1990.
I’m from Australia.
Oh! I’m actually 1/4 Australian. My grandmother was an Australian who immigrated to America.
Feel free to visit my blog:
Can you decipher this one http://slapjan.blogspot.com
I’m sorry, I don’t read Filipino, nor have any idea about the nature of the stone markers.
That is not filipinino made… Made by that of your gereral tomoyuki yamashita that is the secret code of treasure that bring here in our country…
I’m sorry about the misunderstanding. Unfortunately, I still have no idea about the nature of the markings in the pictures.
I went to Hokkaido two years ago and snapped some shots of some monstrous moths and spiders in the countryside, as well as a couple cool beetles, ginormous ants, and some neat dragonflies closer to Sapporo. I’m still trying to ID them, but since I don’t read Japanese (and can barely speak it) I’ve struggled to find the kind of insect or arachnid identification websites like the ones I use locally here in the USA. Do you have any tips – I’d love to know the official names of these critters!
Hi Dee,
The best advice I can think of for your spider identification is to check my blog, since I’ve covered the largest web spinners in the country!
As for insects, you might be better off with your US identification sites than you think – much of Hokkaido’s wildlife is closer to that of North America than it is to Honshu. You should hit a family or even genus, and use that as a point to search from.
I’m unaware of any comprehensive guides to Japanese insects in English, and you see that sometimes I can’t find an English common name for some of my specimens.
Good luck with the hunting.
OK, I just thought now it might be possible to do it this summer, so I better start checking around. I don’t belong to any forums, but I’ll do a search later to see what comes up. I’m down here in Yamaguchi. Mostly countryside with a few big cities, but nice living conditions I feel.
Hi Andrew. Just came across your blog. Very interesting. I’ve been a long time resident here (since 93) and I see you know so much about some areas. I have plans of bicycling across Japan this summer. I’m in my 60’s, can you send me some info that you may have about biking in Japan, please. Thank you so much.
Thanks for the shout.
I used to dream of cycling accross Japan when I was 21 or so, but reality kicked in…
I can’t tell you anything really about cycling long distance here, but I’m sure there are plenty of blogs and sites on the subject out there.