９月２４日（金）国立科学博物館にて、１８：００から３０分マッコウクジラについて講演する予定です。

国立科学博物館の特別大哺乳類展（朝日新聞とWWF Japan協賛）は、７月１０日から９月２６日まで開催されており、すでに８月中旬で、入場者２０万人以上に達しています。

現在、僕が小笠原で撮影したマッコウクジラがダイオウイカをくわえている写真が展示されています。この瞬間を撮らえた写真は世界初です。

マッコウクジラとダイオウイカ

今回のトーク内容は、小笠原とドミニカ国で撮影した写真と映像を見ていただきながら、世界の一番大きな肉食動物と一緒に泳いだ経験、例えば、クジラが発するソナーの感覚、自分のフィンをかじられた瞬間、十数頭に囲まれた経験、ドミニカで出会った「スカー」という特別に触れるマッコウクジラの話などを予定しています。

もちろん、全部日本語で話すつもりです。僕の日本語を動物研究部脊椎動物研究グループ長の山田格さんが助けてくれると思います。

ギャラリートークは無料ですが、博物館の入場に１、４００円がかかります。しかし、金曜日の場合、１７：００以降に二人で入場すると２，０００円です。詳細はこのページを見てください。

皆んなのお越しをお待ちしています。

The National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo has been holding a special exhibition on marine mammals in conjunction with the Asahi Shimbun and WWF Japan.

The exhibition started on 10 July and winds up on 26 September. As of the middle of August, over 200,000 people have visited the exhibit!

Female sperm whale with giant squid in its mouth.

My photograph of a female sperm whale consuming part of an Architeuthis giant squid is on display as part of the exhibit, and I am scheduled to give a talk on what it’s like to be in the water with sperm whales on Friday, 24 September, from 18:00 to 18:30.

Since the museum is in Tokyo, I’ll be doing my best to give the talk entirely in Japanese (gulp). Fortunately, Tadasu Yamada from the Division of Vertebrates in the Department of Zoology at the Museum will be on hand to help translate when I exceed the limits of my Japanese vocabulary.

I’m not exactly sure how the talk will go, but I’m planning to take along some sperm whale images and video clips from my recent trips to Ogasawara and Dominica.

If you can make it to the talk, I’ll tell you what it’s like to be in the water next to the largest living carnivore on the planet, to have your fin chewed by a sperm whale, to get ping-ed by sperm whale sonar, to watch a large group of socialising whales, and even to stroke an unusual sperm whale named Scar that seems to seek out human attention.

My talk is free, but there is an admission charge of 1,400 Yen to get into the museum. There’s a special rate of 2,000 Yen for two people together if you enter the museum after 17:00 on that day.

If you happen to be in Tokyo on 24 September, please drop by and say hello! Details are on this page (in Japanese).

I just received this snapshot of my photo of a sperm whale eating giant squid from a friend who visited the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo earlier today. The photo is from a trip to Ogasawara, Japan in October 2009.

My photo on display at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo

The special exhibit about marine mammals will continue until 26 September. I haven’t been able to see the exhibit yet, but I’ve received a lot of positive feedback.

If you’re in Tokyo and have time, it might be worth dropping by.

Incidentally, the same photo is also on display at the Natural History Museum in London, though friends tell me the sperm whale section is dark and difficult to find.

Thanks Michiyo-san!

Update 26 July: I received a couple more photos of the exhibit from another friend:

Crowd looking at the sperm whale exhibit

Another view of the display with my sperm whale photo

Thanks Wakae-san!

A few weeks ago, I welcomed Eric, Julia, Douglas and Emily to Japan for the start of our quest to photograph and video sperm whales by taking them to dinner at a small sushi restaurant outside Tokyo.

Our trip was a wild success, and Eric and Julia have already gone back. Tonight, we had dinner with Douglas and Emily to say goodbye, as they’ll be boarding a plane for the long trip home tomorrow. Tom, one of Douglas’s friends from high school, joined us too.

I took them to a small kushiyaki restaurant called Kushihana (串花) in Nishi-azabu. In case you’re not familiar with kushiyaki cuisine, it’s basically delicious bite-sized morsels of stuff skewered and deep-fried on little sticks, generally washed down with copious quantities of beer, shochu, or whatever other form of alcohol is on hand.

Nishi-azabu a swank neighborhood in Tokyo with lots of fancy shops, restaurants and clubs, but this place is quaint and cozy, and just about everyone who goes there is a diver. The owner is a diver and a big fan of underwater photography, so it seemed like an appropriate place for our last dinner together.

Of course, we couldn’t let the evening go by without a bit of fun…at Douglas’s expense:

I’m sure Douglas had a nagging feeling that he was being set up, but he was a good sport and played along, much to the amusement of all the other people in the restaurant (who were all in on the gag).

If you’re ever in Tokyo and feel like going to a small place that’s not packed with tourists and socialites, this is a map to Kushihana, and the address is Minato-ku, Nishiazabu 4-2-15, 106-0031 (港区西麻布4-2-15, 106-0031). You have to speak Japanese though.

And make sure you visit the bathroom, where one of my sperm whale photos is on display.

In the course of my travels, I often run across things that cause me to pause and reflect. Take this toilet in Tokyo’s Narita international airport for example.

Narita is a terrible airport. It’s too far from the city. The operating hours are too restricted. The layout isn’t user-friendly. It’s expensive. Basically, it sucks.

But…despite the many deficiencies of this airport, the officials in charge seem to have invested substantial thought and effort into one core competency that all airports should pay more attention to…namely, sanitising smelly travellers.

This is a set of instructions for operating a public toilet in Narita. If you read the sign, you’ll see that this shows you how to use the toilet, specifically how to use the “Equipment to cleansing the buttocks with warm water.”

There are multilingual instructions for “Washing the rear” and “Rear washing stopped”, along with a helpful diagram on how to fine-tune water pressure…presumably so you don’t inadvertently injure sensitive areas with too vigourous an ablution.

The true value of this unique amenity for travellers, however, must lie in the “Extra deodrizing” function of the “Powerful Deodorizer”, which provides “Increased absorption strength for removing odors.”

I, of course, didn’t require the extra-strength help. Regular strength was sufficient.