Hi,
We are traveling to Japan for June and July. It’s the first Japan trip for two adults and a tween. We’re doing the usual first timers trip through Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka, Ogijima/Megijima, Hiroshima, and Tokyo.
One of our deep interests is entomology. We especially want to see live wild stag beetles, butterflies, and mantises, but we’re open to any insects. We plan to go to Yoshidayama in Kyoto to look for the beetles and to the Fabre Insect Museum in Tokyo to see preserved ones.
Question 1: Can we expect to find lots of insects around the usual first-time-tourist temple gardens and parks? We plan to go to many temple gardens (another interest), including Arashiyama area, and at least a few parks. We particularly like small neighborhood parks, but we’ll be in Nara and Ueno parks and hope to go fairly far up Fushimi Inari. Or does Japanese garden maintenance mean pesticides and those are the worst places to look?
Question 2: If insects are easy to find, is it silly to take a half-day out of our three days (not counting Nara) in Kyoto to go to Yoshidayama to look for stag beetles?
Question 3: If you had a neat unexpected encounter with an insect in Japan, where was it?
We do not intend to catch or harm the insects or bring any forbidden items back through customs. Please think of this hobby like weird bird watching. Thank you for your thoughts.
by overtmorass