｜Length : 15min. x26 ｜Year : 2000 ｜

This 26-part series is a collection of images of some of the animals inhabiting the Japanese archipelago. Each episode is packed with rare insights into the lives of Japan's animals, fish, birds and insects.


[1. Animal Courtship]
1. The Jump of the Mudskipper
2. The Courtship of the Ruddy Kingfisher
3. The Courtship of the White-Cheeked Flying Squirrel
4. The Dance of the Short-Tailed Albatross
5. The Courtship of the Hakusen Fiddler Crab

[2. Animals in Winter]
1. The Japanese Sable Plays Tag
2. The Varied Tit Prepares for Winter
3. Habitats of the Flying Squirrel
4. The Iriomote Glow-Worm Glows in Winter
5. The Japanese Macaque Searches for Food

[3. Autumn Migrants]
1. The Visit of the White-Naped Crane
2. The Visit of the White-Fronted Goose
3. The Visit of the Black-Faced Spoonbill
4. The Grey-Faced Buzzard Heads South
5. The Life-and-Death Flight of the Brown-Eared Bulbul

[4. Building Nests]
1. The Nest of the Harvest Mouse
2. The Carpenter Bee's Nest
3. Great Black Woodpecker Parents
4. The Badger's Set
5. The Nest of the Long-Tailed Tit

[5. Courting in Spring]
1. The Songs of the Bush Warbler
2. The Radiant Colours of the Male Pheasant
3. The Courtship of the Giant Water Strider
4. The Courtship Feeding of the Little Tern
5. The Great Imitators: Bull-Headed Shrikes

[6. Creatures of the Southern Islands]
1. Sperm Whales Dive Deep
2. The Behaviour of Bonin Flying Foxes
3. A Native Species: Bonin Islands Honey-Eaters
4. Feral Goats
5. A Green Turtle Lays Her Eggs

[7. Fish Spawning and Hatching]
1. The Birth of the Medaka
2. The Birth of the Two-Banded Anemone Fish
3. The Birth of the Biwa Catfish
4. The Birth of the Blue-spotted Mudskipper
5. The Birth of the Chum Salmon

[8. Laying Eggs and Rearing Chicks]
1. Swallows: Parenting under the Eaves
2. Brown Dippers: Parenting by a Mountain Stream
3. Peregrine Falcons: Parenting on a Cliff
4. A Colony of Grey Herons
5. Rock Ptarmigans: Parenting in High Mountains

[9. Forest Dwellers]
1. Japanese Macaques on Yakushima Island
2. From Forest to Sea: Red-Legged Crabs
3. Grey-Faced Buzzards of the Satoyama
4. Jewels of the Forest: Green Mountain Butterflies
5. Black Woodpeckers in the Virgin Forest

[10. Hunters]
1. The Trapdoor Spider's Ambush
2. The Greater Pied Kingfisher's Dive
3. Giant Water Bugs: Hunting with Forelegs
4. The Four-Spined Sculpin's Stone Camouflage
5. The Powerful Suckers of the Common Octopus

[11. Life Among the Ice Floes]
1. Above the Ice Floes: White-Tailed Sea Eagles
2. Drifting Ice Angels
3. Mother and Baby: Saddle-Backed Seals
4. Scallops on the Seabed
5. Fish Beneath the Ice Floes

[12. Survival Strategies]
1. Masters of Disguise: Octopuses
2. Leaf or Butterfly? Leaf Butterflies
3. Seaweed Camouflage: Tiarinia cornigera
4. Fish Lures: Green-Backed Herons
5. A Multicoloured Coat: Flashback Cuttlefish

[13. Winter Migrants]
1. The Short-Eared Owl: A Hunter
2. Sandpipers on the Tidal Flats
3. The Courting Behaviour of Wild Ducks
4. Japanese Waxwings and Mistletoe
5. The Feeding Grounds of the Black-Headed Gull

[14. The Wonder of Seeds!]
1. White Birch Seeds Fly on the Wind
2. The Seed-Packed Spike of the Cattail
3. The Popping Seeds of the Wood Sorrel
4. Themeda japonica's Rotating Seeds
5. Birds Love Linden Viburnum Berries

[15. Hunting Techniques]
1. The Ambush of the Stonefish
2. Cone Shells Shoot Their Poison Darts
3. Feeding Techniques of the Spotted Eagle Ray
4. The Feeding Habits of Shorebirds
5. The Agility of the Trapdoor Spider

[16. Seashore Breeders]
1. Grass Puffers Come Ashore to Spawn
2. The Life Cycle of the Spear Squid
3. The Colourful Eggs of the Sailfin Sandfish
4. The Spawnings of the Hermaphroditic Sea Hare
5. The Mysterious Glow of the Firefly Squid

[17. Creatures of the Coral Reef]
1. A Day on a Coral Reef
2. Crown-of-Thorns Starfish: Coral's Natural Predator
3. Defensive Strategies of the Parrot Fish
4. How Damselfish Protect Their Eggs
5. Cleaner Wrasses: The Cleanerrs of the Coral Reef

[18. Creatures of Clear Streams]
1. Japanese Chars: Headwater Dwellers
2. Common Kingfishers: The Jewels of Clear Streams
3. Ayu: Growing Up in the River
4. Survival Strategies of Caddisflies
5. The Spawning of Brown Stream Frogs

[19. Mangroves]
1. Mangroves: The Cradle of life
2. Rhizophora stylosa: A Paradise for Fish
3. The Aerial Roots of Sonneratia alba
4. The Survival Strategy of Avicennia marina
5. Bruguiera gymnorrhiza: Thickets Teeming with Life

[20. Colony Breeders]
1. The Parenting of the Black-Crowned Night Heron
2. The Slaty-Backed Gull of Daikoku-jima, Hokkaido
3. Common Cormorants in the City
4. The Nocturnal Life of Leach's Storm Petrels
5. A Spectacular Colony of Common Guillemotsd

[21. Creatures of the Mangroves]
1. Soldier Crabs on a Sandy Beach
2. Barred Mudskippers on the Tidal Flats
3. Fish in the Mangrove
4. A Leaf-Eating Mangrove Crab
5. The Mud Lobster Builds a Nestd

[22. Creatures of the Wetlands]
1. Red-crowned Cranes in the Kushiro Marsh
2. Siberian Salamanders
3. Redshanks on the Notsuke Peninsula
4. Water Spiders
5. Red-necked Grebesd

[23. Symbiosis: Helping Each Other]
1. Coral and Coral Crabs
2. Gobies and Snapping Shrimps
3. Sea Anemoes and Anemonefish
4. Ants and Aphids
5. The Coral's Secret

[24. Animals That Use Man-Made Objects]
1. Dusky Tripletooth Gobies: Parenting in an Empty Can
2. Oriental Particoloured Bats: A Nursery in the Attic
3. Magpies: Nests atop Power Poles
4. Land Hermit Crabs: House-Hunting Experts
5. Swallows: Parenting under the Eavest

[25. Strategies for Species Preservation]
1. Perch Sculpin and Their Sea Squirt Cradle
2. How Shirozua jonasi Cheats Ants
3. The Explosive Breeding Power of Aphids
4. Coypus: Dwelling on the Water's Edge
5. How Kobi Cuttlefish Use Sponges

[26. Child-Rearing Fathers]
1. Male Painted Snipes: The Plainer Sex
2. Japanese Freshwater Perch: Guarding the Young
3. The Male Seahorse's Brood Pouch
4. Giant Water Bugs Carry Eggs on Their Backs
5. The Three-Spined Stickleback Builds a Nest