Photos of Steve Sykes' trip to the Japan Reptile Show in August

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SteveGeckosEtc

New Member
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59
Location
Roseville, California
Hello everyone,

This isn't an upcoming show, but I just posted photos of my trip to the Japan Reptiles Show in Shizuoka, Japan in early August. Bob Applegate and I were invited to sell reptiles at the show. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip. If you want to see all the photos (around 125), check out this page: http://www.geckosetc.com/htm/japan_pictures.htm

Sign outside the show
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It was a busy show.
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Our booth
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A slow loris
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Me holding the slow loris
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Meerkat on a leash
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Steve, Bob Applegate, and our translator Kazumi
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The petting zoo had hundreds of baby chicks
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Albino razorback musk turtle
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Spider monkey for sale
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Owl for sale
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Carettochelys insculpta - Fly River Turtle
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Auctioning off one of my geckos
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Cricket pizza
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After the show we took a trip to a park looking for snakes and other Japanese animals. We had some luck! We found a Japanese Mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffii). This is 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.

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We also found a 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.

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We were at the park at night, and a lot of cicadas were emerging from the ground and molting into their adult forms.

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PrototypeGeckos

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Location
McDonough, Ga
Hey Steve, great pics, I know it was fun time even though it was so hard talking to the customers through a translator. I am sure it was a nice experience. They are behind the US in gecko breeding you said, correct?
 
Sunrise Reptile

Sunrise Reptile

SunriseReptile.com
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3,520
Location
New Haven, IN
This must have been a great experience for you, and it looks like it was a good time!

But seeing all of the exploited animals that were up for sale (i.e., spider monkey, slow loris, meerkat, owl) makes me very sad. :( :main_no:

And I know I'd have stayed away from the cricket pizza! :help: :main_thumbsdown:
 
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SteveGeckosEtc

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59
Location
Roseville, California
They are behind the US in gecko breeding you said, correct?
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Definitely. Nearly all the new morphs of leopards geckos come out in the US. It was interesting to see the pricing of some leopard gecko morphs in Japan. I always thought that everything was more expensive in Japan. Not the case. Mack snows and super hypo tangerines were cheaper over there than US prices. Super hypos have been imported for a long time, and now the backyard breeders are producing a lot of them. RAPTORs, APTORs, and RAPTOR hets were more expensive there than they are here because they are still relatively new. Only one other vendor had RAPTORs and RAPTOR hets at the show, and they didn't have many.

......you didn't eat the pizza, did you??!! Japanese and their crazy food, where will it end?!!
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I am not sure if these were "typical" Japanese foods, but rather "Fear Factor" or "freak your friends out" kind of foods.

Here are some other pictures of the bug food at the show.

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But there were some different things on the menu there than here. 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. I ate all of these except the whale, and they were all tasty. The beef intestines are very fatty (so tasty), but they were really chewy. I was surprised how tender the beef tongue was. It was sliced very thin, and was so tender you could squish it against the top of your mouth. When in Rome....!
 
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hgrub

hgrub

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121
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Bangkok
I lived in Japan for 3 years, my wife is Japanese, and I can tell you that all those insect menu is not common in Japan.

On the other hand, insect menu is kinda common in Thailand. You will see street vendor that sell all those deep fried beetle, worms, cricket, and glasshopper. Ant egg, bee larva, beetle larva are considered delicacy. For me, I never tried those stuff. I even try not to look at them when I pass them by...because I'm afraid of worms lol The only thing I can touch is mealworm, or else I wouldn't have Leopard geckos...would I? :main_laugh:

Talking about culture shock in food. What's the deal with those super-jumbo-humongous size fried and drink y'll have in fast food chains in the States... Who the heck can finish them?! j/k ;)
 
D

DAWNoftheLEO

New Member
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764
Location
El SIN CITY.
hgrub said:
I lived in Japan for 3 years, my wife is Japanese, and I can tell you that all those insect menu is not common in Japan.

On the other hand, insect menu is kinda common in Thailand. You will see street vendor that sell all those deep fried beetle, worms, cricket, and glasshopper. Ant egg, bee larva, beetle larva are considered delicacy. For me, I never tried those stuff. I even try not to look at them when I pass them by...because I'm afraid of worms lol The only thing I can touch is mealworm, or else I wouldn't have Leopard geckos...would I? :main_laugh:

Talking about culture shock in food. What's the deal with those super-jumbo-humongous size fried and drink y'll have in fast food chains in the States... Who the heck can finish them?! j/k ;)
Click to expand...

sawadee ka !
 
S

SteveGeckosEtc

New Member
Messages
59
Location
Roseville, California
hgrub said:
I lived in Japan for 3 years, my wife is Japanese, and I can tell you that all those insect menu is not common in Japan.

On the other hand, insect menu is kinda common in Thailand. You will see street vendor that sell all those deep fried beetle, worms, cricket, and glasshopper. Ant egg, bee larva, beetle larva are considered delicacy. For me, I never tried those stuff. I even try not to look at them when I pass them by...because I'm afraid of worms lol The only thing I can touch is mealworm, or else I wouldn't have Leopard geckos...would I? :main_laugh:

Talking about culture shock in food. What's the deal with those super-jumbo-humongous size fried and drink y'll have in fast food chains in the States... Who the heck can finish them?! j/k ;)
Click to expand...

Years ago I was at a fair at Rutgers University, and the Entomology Department was giving out sauteed waxworms. They were sauteed until crispy with oil and garlic. It was really good! It tasted like bacon...no wonder the geckos love them! A cricket vendor in CA sells little packets of barbecue and sour cream and onion flavored mealworms (cooked and dried) at reptile shows here, and lollipops with a mealworm in it. I ate a packet of the BBQ mealworms once, and although it wasn't horrible, it wasn't very good either. Maybe mealworms would taste better cooked with a little onion and garlic...that makes everything taste good! :main_yes:
 
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ALGeckos

Guest
These are some excellent pictures! It's interesting to see the show in Japan... from the food to the chick petting zoo and to the meerkat on a leash!! Hehehe. You make me want to fly out to Japan for the next big reptile expo :D

I'm also very impressed to read that you've tried eating all those insects. Something I'm too chicken to do!!


~ Aimee
 
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