For Japan Explorers

【Town & Gourmet】　 Searching for turtles in "Kansen-en Garden" (Tokyo pref.)

Today I went searching for native Japanese turtles in a park called "Kansen-en," located near Waseda University in the northwestern part of Tokyo.

It's not as large a garden as this, but there are quite a lot of turtles there.　(Nihedon @ KesaranPasaran Lab)

★ It is said that delicious tea can be made using the spring water , ★

★ Are there any "Japanese pond turtles" here? ★

There were turtles swimming around as usual. But then I took a closer look...

It was a "Red-eared slider" after all!

Oops, I can't see the red line on the side of his head.

Doesn't it kind of look like a Japanese pond turtle?

It does seem to have jagged edges on the back of its shell, if you look closely...

I'm not a "turtle expert," so I can only judge by appearance, but doesn't the turtle in the photo above look somewhat like a Japanese pond turtle?

If any "turtle experts" happen to be reading this site, I'd love to hear your opinion, and I'd also appreciate it if you could investigate the "Japanese pond turtle population" at Kansen-en!

Well, as a "laid-back turtle enthusiast and closet patriot," I'd like to declare, "Japanese pond turtles live at Kansen-en!"

A scene of a Japanese pond turtle and a red-eared slider turtle meeting. They don't seem to be enemies.

ACCESS :

● 1-minute walk from Omokagebashi Station on the Toden Arakawa Line

● Approximately 7-minute walk from Waseda Subway Station

Official site