Page 3 of Steve's Trip to the Japan Reptiles Show in Shizuoka, Japan
(Yes, it is Reptiles Show, not Reptile Show)

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On Saturday night we went to dinner at a Korean Barbeque, where you sit on the floor, and cook your food on a little grill in the middle of your table. Some of the food in Japan was very different than our normal foods. Some of the weirder stuff on the menus included whale, octopus (a lot of this), raw beef and raw egg, beef tongue, and beef intestines.
Junko, Bob Applegate, and Ted	Beef intestines cooking at our table. These were tasty, but very chewy.
At the show the Reptiles Club would gather items from vendors and auction them off for them. There were two auctioneers, and they were very active and entertaining auctioneers! It looked like fun, so Bob Applegate and I decided to auction some of our animals.
		Bob auctioning one of his snakes.
Steve auctioning off a tangerine leopard gecko.	Steve auctioning off a tangerine jungle Tremper albino.
They had some interesting food items at the show. Bug Food! I don't think these are typical Japanese food items, but more of a "freak your friends out" kind of food.
Wasps, grasshoppers, and diving beetles	Beetles, caterpillars, and grasshoppers	Cricket Pizza anyone?
On the way home we stopped at a couple reptile shops to sell them some of our reptiles.
Mr. Sato (reptile shop owner) looking at our snakes and geckos.	Steve and Mr. Sato	The Reptiles Club, a shop about 1 hour from Tokyo
After leaving the shops we went to a park (at night) to look for snakes and other Japanese animals.
Map of the park we visited. We only saw a small portion of the park (on the left side of the map).	A pair of long-horned beetles. The one on the left appeared to be laying eggs when I found it. You can see the ovipositor everted and sticking into the log.	Japanese Toad - Bufo japonicus.
A Japanese Mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffii). A venomous snake that is related to Copperheads and Water Moccasins in the USA. They occupy the same niche as Water Moccasins, and even look very similar. We found two of these on the margins of the ponds.	Cool head shot. This is a pit viper, and you can see the pit on the side of its face.	American Bullfrog - Rana catebeiana. It was unfortunate to see that bullfrogs were established and breeding in this park, but I guess the young frogs and tadpoles provide plenty of food for the snakes. However, this huge frog was big enough to eat small snakes .
We were at the park at night, and many cicadas nymphs were emerging from the ground and molting into their adult form. This type of cicada turned black when its shell was fully hardened.	Cicada nymph crawling up a tree to molt.	Adult cicada and its freshly shed shell.
Japanese Keelback Snake - Amphiesma vibakari vibakari. This was a small snake, about 7-8 inches long. The 100 yen coin in the photo is a little larger than a US quarter.	.
A 5-6 inch walking stick on the inside wall of the women's bathroom.	A 4-5 inch crayfish that was walking down the trail. .
On the way home we had a nice surprise at the airport and got a free upgrade to business class.
Bob Applegate enjoying the extra leg room.	This was the appetizer BEFORE the meal. After the main course we got a plate of grapes, cheese, and wine.
I had a great time in Japan, and maybe I will come back next year!

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