Whale Watching

Overview

Okay, so we all know the story; the whole world does. Japan has been obdurate in its defiance of the International  whaling Committee's ban on the whaling of certain species, and staying within the allocated quotas for others. There have been a series of high profile clashes between Japanese whaling boats and environmental protestors with seemingly little progress towards a resolution of the issue.

However, away from the headlines and publicity stunts, some coastal communities in Japan are bucking the trend and starting to run whale watching tours. There is a great diversity of whales and dolphins to be spotted in Japanese coastal waters: humpbacks, sperm whales, bottle-nose and spinner dolphins to mention but a few.

The longest established organisation is the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association (OWA). Ogasawara is a cluster of 30 small islands (only two of which are inhabited) 1000 km south of Tokyo, which are rarely visited by non-Japanese and ar eonly accessible by overnight ferry from the mainland. The OWA has been operating for nearly 20 years, and has its own code of good practice to minimise disruption to the animals. Dolphins can be seen in these waters all year round whilst humpback whales are present from mid-December to the end of April.

We can arrange for you to visit Ogasawara for whale watching as well as a range of other nature orientated activities. Please contact us for full details of these unique experiences.

When:
You can take Whale Watching trips from Kushimoto in Wakayama prefecture from April to October, from Katsurahama near Kochi City on Shikoku from May to September and from Choushi in Chiba prefecture in November and December.

The Ogasawara Islands have Whale Watching available from December to April whilst

Where:
As well the Ogasawara Islands Destinations other destinations with whale watching opportunities include Chiba and Shizuoka, both within easy reach of Tokyo,  Kushimoto on the south coast of Wakayama Prefecture (convenient from Kyoto or Osaka), Kochi on the south coast of Shikoku and the Okinawa chain of islands.