The hunting in Japan is great. My friend who took the Sika stag in the pictures if from Alaska. He knows what good hunting is, and he says Japan has great hunting opportunities.

As far as the waterfowl and upland hunting goes, I think I can offer an opinion as I'd at least see birds even though I couldn't hunt them. On the rivers, canals, moats, etc., of Yokohama and Tokyo, I'd see huge rafts of pintails and mallards. Which was nothing compared to what you'd see up around Misawa in the northern part of the country. The Air Force and Navy guys up there raved it was a waterfowler's paradise. And it was, and undoubtedly still is.

On every patch of open land, such as the airfield of NAF Atsugi or the farmland around Naval Radio Relay Facility Kami Seya (actually inside the city limits of Yokohama) I'd see pheasants all over the place every spring displaying for mates. That's when I first grew curious about hunting. Not just because of the birds I'd see, but the signs I'd see in English and Japanese saying "No gun hunting." That seemed odd way, because like everyone else at first I thought there were no guns and no hunting in Japan. So why would they need to post signs like that? I checked around with some people I knew and that's when I discovered the various classes of hunting licenses. Apparently, the sign is intended just to prohibit firearms use but hunting is allowed in those areas. That's where the trapping license comes into play. (The signs were in English as well as Japanese only because of the proximity to US military bases. Signs outside of Tokyo/Yokohama were not. They wanted to make sure that no US military personnel got any ideas about shooting some birds.)

I'd have loved to have been able to hunt. Waterfowl was abundant, and surprisingly not too different from the birds you'd find here in the US. The pheasants in Japan are real exotics. They aren't the ring-necked pheasants introduced to the states. They have Green and Copper pheasants.

Japanese quail and sparrow were also on license. And good to eat. There were a few Izakaya's that I knew that had suzume-yaki on the menu; basically "grilled sparrow." 3 to a spit. Delicious.

Unfortunately, by the time I figured things out and learned enough of the language, I had such a short time left in the country I didn't bother to get licensed. I just got my "fix" by shooting Trap and Skeet on base every weekend, buying used guns at bargain basement prices (fully functional M1894 Win. in 25-35 made in 1910? $95) from a Japanese gun dealer who'd come to the base shooting club once a month or so, and eating bear, boar, and venison at Japanese inns up in the mountains as I explored the country.