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Izumi Crane Observation Centre

Locally knownKnown to people who live here. Not in the international guidebooks.

Researched and written by Hinato

Izumi craneshooded craneSpecial Natural Monumentwinterbirdwatching

Photo: The Modern Polymath / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · original

Izumi Crane Observation Centre is one of the reasons Kagoshima keeps coming up whenever the conversation turns to Japan's landscapes.

More than ten thousand cranes fly in from Siberia to winter on the reclaimed farmland at Izumi — mostly hooded and white-naped cranes, and this is where the overwhelming majority of the world's hooded crane population spends the winter. The concentration is unmatched anywhere.

The observation centre is a two-storey building in the middle of the fields with a rooftop deck, telescopes and a commentary. The first birds arrive in mid-October and they leave by March. Standing on the roof at dawn while several thousand cranes call at once and lift off the stubble is the single most extraordinary wildlife experience available in mainland Japan, and it costs ¥220.

Plan your visit

Time to allow

1.5–2 hours

Hours

Open 1 November to the second Sunday in March | Rooftop deck from 6:30 AM for conservation contributors

Closed: Closed outside the wintering season, roughly mid-March to October

Best time to visit

November–February, at dawn

Entry fee

¥220 adults | ¥110 elementary and junior high school students | Voluntary conservation contribution requested in the car park

Finding your way there

Getting there in detail

2478-4 So, Izumi. Car recommended; Izumi Station is on the Kyushu Shinkansen. The centre is open from 1 November to the second Sunday in March. Admission ¥220 adults and ¥110 for elementary and junior high school students, with group rates. A voluntary wintering-ground conservation contribution is requested in the car park; contributors may use the rooftop deck from 6:30 AM. Cranes arrive from mid-October and stay until around March.

Beyond the guidebook

**Dawn is the event.** Contributing to the conservation fund gets you onto the roof from 6:30 AM, which is when the birds lift off the fields en masse. Arriving at eleven means watching cranes stand about. **The centre opens 1 November.** Birds start arriving in mid-October and the last leave in March, but the building itself runs from November to the second Sunday in March. **Bring or borrow optics.** The birds are on farmland at some distance. Telescopes are provided at the centre and binoculars help enormously. **Do not go into the fields.** The wintering grounds are protected and the birds are sensitive to approach. Watch from the centre and the designated roadside points. **This is a global concentration, not a local one.** The great majority of the world's hooded cranes are here between November and March. That is the fact that makes the trip worth building a day around.

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