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Japan

The books are listed by publication date with the most recent at the top.

Asia

Asia

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-east Asia

Tadao Shimba

2016

Japanese with English bird names.

"Based on Christopher Helm's A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia published in 2007, the second Japanese edition of this field guide shows 673 species of wild birds found in Japan and Northeast Asia. In comparison to the first edition many new photos have been included. 673 species of wild birds, including 60 species that have been newly recorded in Japan. Covers Japan and the Korean Peninsula, Northeastern China, and Far East Russia."

Common and Iconic Birds of Japan

Mark Brazil

Bilingual: English / Japanese

Japan Nature Guides

2015

A 12 page laminated fold-out charts that covers 122 species with colour images and common names in English and Japanese.

The Nature of Japan

Mark Brazil

Japan Nature Guides

2013

"This collection of Mark's essays published over the last 30 years and edited and updated for the 21st century, provides an overview of the natural history of Japan throughout the year. It is illustrated with numerous attractive line drawings by Masuda Hisashi..... This selection of Mark's nature writings about Japan and its marvelous biodiversity is arranged seasonally and focusses on iconic species found in many parts of the Japanese archipelgo."

Check-List of Japanese Birds

Mark Brazil

7th edition

2012

A 430 plus page checklist covering 676 species of birds recorded in Japan. This revised edition reflects the great changes in taxonomy since the previous edition in 2000.

Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia

Mark Brazil

Princeton University Press

2009

"With 234 superb color plates, and more than 950 color maps, Birds of East Asia makes it easy to identify all of the region's species. The first single-volume field guide for eastern Asia, the book covers major islands including Japan and Taiwan, as well as the Asian continent from Kamchatka to the Korean Peninsula. The region's major bird families are presented and distinct species are noted, from the well-known Steller's Sea Eagle - the world's largest eagle - to those less familiar to Western ornithologists, such as the Scaly-sided Merganser, Oriental Stork, and Mugimaki Flycatcher. The maps provide useful information about the seasonal migratory patterns of all bird varieties."

Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan: Non-Passerines: Loons to Woodpeckers

Norman Arlott

Princeton University Press

2009

"This is one of two companion field guides that illustrate and describe all of the approximately 1,800 bird species found in the Palearctic - the huge region that includes Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, Africa north of the Sahara Desert, and the Middle East excluding the Gulf countries. This volume covers non-passerines - non-songbirds, including raptors, owls, swifts, hummingbirds, cuckoos, and pigeons. It includes every non-passerine species and subspecies, in every adult plumage - all illustrated and described by Norman Arlott, a leading bird artist with many years of field experience. The two volumes of Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan are the only field guides to illustrate and describe every bird species in the Palearctic. And, for many parts of this region, these books provide the first and only field guides."

Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia

Mark Brazil

2008

"This is the first single volume guide ever devoted to the eastern Asian avifauna. The eastern Asian region, centring especially on the major islands off the continental coast (including Japan and Taiwan) and the immediately adjacent areas of the Asian continent from Kamchatka in the north and including the Korean Peninsula are an important centre of endemism. Birds endemic to this region include representatives of many of the major families, from the world's largest eagle - Steller's Sea Eagle - to the tiny Formosan Firecrest. The east Asian continental coast and the offshore islands also form one of the world's major international bird migration routes, especially for waterfowl, shorebirds and raptors, while the east Asian continental mainland itself is home to a wide range of species little known to western ornithologists such as Scaly-sided Merganser, Oriental Stork and Mugimaki Flycatcher. The guide features the most up-to-date text available, which, in conjunction with extensive colour plates throughout, facilitates the field identification of all of the species known from the region. Colour distribution maps enhance the text by providing a visual analysis of the summer, winter and migratory ranges of all species."

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-east Asia

Tadao Shimba

2007

"Despite its rich avifauna and popularity with tourists, Japan has long been lacking a good English-language field guide. This new photographic guide will be the first book to cover the Japanese avifauna in English for over 25 years, and the first photoguide to the country in English. It will also include the birds of neighbouring mainland regions of eastern Asia, namely Korea, NE China and eastern Siberia. Over 520 species are illustrated with hundreds of stunning colour photographs. The text succinctly describes the key identification features and each species has a distribution map. This guide will be an essential companion for anyone visiting Japan or eastern Asia."

Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan: Passerines: Tyrant Flycatchers to Buntings

Norman Arlott

Princeton University Press

2007

"This is the first of two field guides illustrating and describing all of the approximately 1,800 bird species found in the Palearctic - the huge region that includes Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, and Africa north of the Sahara. This area spans the countries of the former Soviet Union, all of the Russian Arctic, China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and the Middle East excluding the Gulf countries. This first volume covers all the passerines (perching birds, from tyrant flycatchers to buntings) or songbirds and will soon be followed by a companion guide to the nonpasserines (divers to woodpeckers). These volumes are the first and only field guides for many parts of the area covered, and mark the first time all of these birds have been included in a single pair of books. This first volume covers every passerine species and subspecies in the area, in every adult plumage - all illustrated and described by Norman Arlott, a leading bird artist who has many years of field experience with these species."

The Birds of Japan

Mark Brazil

Christopher Helm

1991

"Japan, with its great range of climatic zones and habitats and consequently its exciting mix of species, is a fascinating country in which to birdwatch. The Japanese archipelago is on the migration route of many species breeding in Siberia and wintering in mainland southeast Asia, in Indonesia and even Australasia. It is the wintering grounnd for many northern birds, for thousands of cranes, hundreds of thousands of waterfowl, thrushes and buntings and the breeding ground for a wide variety of species of more southerly origin. The long isolation of the archipelago has been conducive to the evolution of numerous distinct sub-species and also a number of endemic species. The range is extraordinary from the northern pink-cheeked and grey-breasted bullfinch, to the southern local race of the Narcissus flycatcher in the Nansei Shoot; even some of the endemic species have distinct populations. Over the last two decades there has been a marked increase in the number of Japanese birdwatchers, as leisure pursuits have become fashionable and as the Japanese have become increasingly affluent. The science of ornithology has expanded too during the same period, resulting in a major advance in the study of Japanese birds. This book brings together information on the avifauna of Japan. It is not designed as a field guide but as a comprehensive overview of the status, range, habits of Japanese birds."

A Birdwatcher's Guide To Japan

Mark Brazil

1988

A Birder's Guide To Japan

Jane Wahburn Robinson

1988

A guide to birdwatching sites.

The Japanese Crane: Bird Of Happiness

Dorothy Britton and Tsuneo Hayashida

1982

An illustrated work about the Japanese crane.

A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan

Wild Bird Society Of Japan

1982

Birds In Japan: A Field Guide

Yoshimaro Yamashina

3rd edition

1982

266 page guide with colour illustrations, maps and suggested sites.

Birds In Japan: A Field Guide

Yoshimaro Yamashina

1961

233 page guide with 130 colour illustrations.

Waterfowl of Japan

Oliver Austin

1949

A Hand-List Of Japanese Birds

N. Kuroda, Viscount Y. Matsudaira, Prince N. Taka-Tsukasa, S. Uchida

1922

A 182 page list of birds recorded in Japan.

A Hand-List Of The Birds Of Japan

M. Ogawa

1908

A 78 page list of birds recorded in Japan.

The Birds Of The Japanese Empire

Henry Seebohm

1890

From the preface: "During the last ten years I have been making a collection of Japanese Birds, and have accumulated a carefully selected series of more than two thousand skins, out of the many thousands that have passed through my hands. I am indebted to Captain Blakiston for the most interesting of these specimens, some of which were in the Swinhoe Collection, whilst others were sent to me from time to time during the many years' residence of Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi. I am also indebted to the late Mr. Harry Pryer for many skins of birds from Southern Japan, and at his death, after many years' residence in Yokohama, when his collection came into my hands, I began to prepare my notes on Japanese Birds for the press."

On some Birds from Hakodadi, in Northern Japan

R. Swinhoe

Ibis: Volume 16, Issue 2, pages 150-166

1874

Opening lines:

"Mr. Thomas Blakiston, resident in Hakodadi, the port of Yesso, the most northern island of the Japanese group, with the help of a Japanese gentleman, Mr. Fnkusi Goro, in the service of the Japanese Government, has again been collecting the birds of Northern Japan, and has sent me a fine series, which I have carefully studied and compared, and will now enumerate, with remarks."