Cranes and planes in Kushiro...

Finally, on our last day in Hokkaido we zero in on the city of Kushiro, but before that we visit the Akan International Crane Centre in the city's north for another look (hopefully) at those gorgeous red-crowned cranes, known locally as tancho. This is a place devoted to the cranes and performs the dual roles of nurturing the endangered birds as well as providing a great opportunity for visitors to observe them in the wild. There are interpretive displays, a video to watch, and a bird hospital outside. The publically chosen nickname for the centre is Grus which is part of the scientific name for the cranes.

Tancho may be rare, but photographers are in abundance in the well-structured viewing area. There are 25 or so cranes coming or going. It's quite windy (not to mention a long way below zero), and the tancho are quite spectacular as they exploit the wind to take off and land. There are dozens of whooper swans there too, which, sadly, get in the way of clean photographs. But the cranes were close enough to get some good snaps.

The Akan International Crane Centre main building.

Photographers are well catered for at Grus.

In flight, in search of a better spot.

A crane amongst the swans.

Running into the wind for takeoff.

Strong headwind makes landing easy.

That's my crown!

Red-crowned crane in profile.

Whooper swans like it here too!

Kushiro is a large port city (4th in Hokkaido) which was opened to trade with the UK and USA in 1899AD and benefits from being relatively ice-free compared to others this far north. We have a quick lunch at the Kushiro Washo Market (Mike and Steve pig out on sashimi) and then we asked the critical question: "is there a Starbucks in Kushiro?". We haven't had a cappucino or espresso since leaving Sapporo, so the need was great. The answer was yes, just opened! Steve had a big fat mocha, we had our usual.

On sale at the Washo Market in Kushiro.

It's best to eat your fresh seafood right at the market, like we did.

The market came to a stop when Japanese darling and (eventual) gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu was on the ice.

Red-crowned cranes on the Route 113 bridge across the Shinkushiro River, just opposite Starbucks.

And then to the airport for a JAL flight to Tokyo Haneda. So, what did we think of Hokkaido? In summary, it was not what we expected. Once we left Sapporo with Steve and headed east, we really thought we were headed into relative wilderness which would be sparsely populated, and very few visitors. How wrong we were! Cities and towns were much bigger than we thought. Almost everywhere we went was crowded, and packed with tourists, and most of them were not Japanese, and not westerners either. The sights were beautiful, there's no doubt, but we didn't expect such numbers to be looking at them with us, bus tours everywhere. The Meiji Restoration had the objective of developing the island and keeping the Russians out - they seemed to have achieved the former, but maybe not the latter.

This photo density map shows our coverage of Hokkaido, with a distinct focus on the east.

We know (and met) Aussies who have successfully toured Hokkaido on their own, renting a car, but we employed a private local guide, Steve, from Hokkaido Nature Tours (HNT), who took us everwhere and arranged everything. This was successful for us - we could never have seen the sights so efficiently without a Steve. Because it was a private tour, Steve was very accomodating of our expressed wishes, and also, he flexed the program wisely to cope with forecast bad weather, of which we had a fair bit. Thanks Steve, and thanks HNT.

Akan-ko, homeland of the Ainu...

Having checked out of the Yorouchi with some sadness, our scheduled morning activity was a canoe ride through marshlands which, we saw, in spring would be the nesting areas for the wonderful red crowned cranes which we hoped to see later in the day. The boss canoe man was a guy who has spent years in New Zealand being a mountain guide for Japanese tourists. His office was full of kiwi artifacts and a NZ internet radio station was playing. He and his offsider both had very good English.

The red-crowned crane is an icon of Hokkaido and Japan, and its image appears everywhere.

The canoe went into a quiet creek which is an overflow from Lake Toro somewhere between Shibecha and Kushiro. We paddled to where the creek meets the Kushiro River which flows to the Pacific Ocean. We saw two other canoes, but not much in the way of wildlife, a few deer, ducks and eagles at a distance. Sadly, we just missed seeing a steam-train which runs every day in February.

Fellow canoers on this quiet marshland.

Almost perfectly camoflaged deer by the river.

Out of season, the trees are not so pretty.

The overall river scene is quite photogenic.

We saw this Stellars Sea Eagle from the road. The canoe operator told us he sits here every day/

Late in the day Steve went into the area known as Tsurui on a crane hunt. Tsuru means "cranes" and the "i" at the end apparently makes it "live here". He tried a couple of places, talked to a few photographers, but at first we only saw cranes at a distance. But then we passed another place where a farmer or shopkeeper puts out food, and found a good number of the treasured cranes pecking in the snow and flying off to their night roosting places.

Pickings are poor for red-crowned cranes in winter, but the community makes sure they have enough to eat.

It's important to say that community nurturing of these cranes is an important part of their rescue from near extinction, especially in winter. Overdevelopment caused their near demise (only 30 left!) but the Tsurui community embarked on a program to save them and there are now a total of 1000 in Japan, all in Hokkaido. The cranes are migratory, but the meagre Japanese population has been conditioned to moving only 150km between summer and winter because of their loss of habitat.

Photographers watch every move of the cranes as they forage in the snow.

The red-crowned cranes are among the biggest cranes and get their name from a patch of bare red skin at their forehead, which gets brighter during mating. Other than that, they are snow white in colour, with some black feathers in their wings.

The cranes build up a gallop to take off.

In flight, there is nothing more graceful than these large cranes.

These are precious birds indeed, and are absolute icons in Japan. Japan Air Line's logo features a red-crowned crane, as does one series of Japanese bank notes, and their mating ritual is one of Japan's 100 soundscapes. How wonderous to be able to find them so easily. (In fact, earlier in the day, we spotted a few more, although too distant to photograph.)

Those black feathers are on the wing, not the tail, as you might think when they're on the ground.

Getting dark, these red-crowned cranes and heading to their roosts.

We stayed the last two nights of our Hokkaido journey in Lake Akanat the New Akan Hotel, maybe called the Shangri-la in some previous existance. This is a big nine storey place which has been visibly extended three times around the lake front, no doubt as the owners managed to acquire more property. Our room was billed as "western" and had a bed, but it was shoes-off on entry, devoid of a chair although it did have a huge day lounge beside the large bay window which offered us a great view of the lake.

Lake Akan Hotel from the frozen lake, huge restaurant at bottom, onsens up top.

Icy predawn light over the frozen Lake Akan showing skating circuit plus rental of ice fishing tents and snow mobiles.

Sign within the hotel warns of rather low temperatures today.

Tough work learning to skate when it's -20C and blowing snow.

No kaiseki here, we had buffet dinners and breakfasts which were excellent in range and quality, but the whole scene was one of pandemonium. Everyone in the hotel crowded into a very large restaurant space over a relatively short period of time. It's madness, and the poor staff were worked off their feet. Western items were available from the buffet (cereal, fried egg, bread for toast etc) but no cutlery. We found a butter knife and a fruit fork. During the day, the hotel is so quiet, we figure everyone is off doing tours.

In this giant dining room, we studied the crowd (and listened to their language) and realised that there are not so many Japanese staying in this particular hotel (but there are plenty of others). At least on the days we were here, the guests were mostly Chinese and Korean with a sprinkling from South East Asia. And not a single westerner, except for ourselves. Lake Akan is still popular with Japanese people - they seemed to arrive by car, and are maybe just on day trips from, say, Kushiro. The best parking area in town is the frozen lake - that probably doesn't work so well in summer!

One of hundreds of ice fishing shelters that you can rent on Lake Akan.

You can hire snow mobiles or dune buggies, but a ride on a banana sled was the most popular in the foul conditions.

Again, huge areas over two storeys of the hotel were devoted to "bathrooms". The locker rooms were unusually palatial. There were segregated large indoor and outdoor pools. On the building roof there was an arrangement we hadn't come across before, a large non-segregated pool and smaller segregated baths and also jacuzzis. Unexpectedly, you had to cover up to visit the top floor areas, and they lend you "bathing shorts or bathing gowns" which, frankly, look ridiculous but preserve modesty. We think this area is the preserve of tourists and not the Japanese. But this didn't detract from the sheer pleasure of a steaming hot bath while heavy snow falls on your head!

Lake Akan, Akan-ko, is a volcanic lake formed about 6000 years ago. Part of the touristy village we stayed in is Akan Kotan which appears to be a spiritual homeland for those Ainu people who are aware of their origins. Most Ainu are fully assimilated and interbred, it seems, and unknowing of their roots, so the "Ainu" population is uncertain (25,000-250,000), but there are enough here to run a village of souvenir shops and an evening cultural presentation which we attended in a very well equipped theatre. The troupe we saw consisted of seven young Ainu women, a couple of older women, and an elderly gentleman - they danced, sang and played a traditional instrument, a tiny stringed thing with amazing tonal variation. To us the performers looked like any other Japanese, which is no surprise since both races originally descended from Mongolian clans warring since the late 1300's. There are apparently some evolutionary differences between the Ainu and the dominant Yamato people of Japan (120m of 129m), but we couldn't see them in their faces.

Snowy entrance to the Ainu People's village.

Even the polar bears are cold in Lake Akan!

New Tourist Centre at Lake Akan is styled with Ainu motifs.

To the Ainu, the great Cikap Kamuy owl was the god of the land and all other owls.

Volcanic Activity at Lake Kussharo...

After leaving Rausu we drove a "scenic route" to Yoroushi with many stops on the way. One of the highlights was a diversion to Kaiyodai Observatory near Nakashibetsu, a very impressive structure high on a hill complete with rooftop ampitheatre for guided stargazing, in summer we think. For our visit, the cafe here was firmly closed.

We approach Kaiodai Observatory.

Stellar observation theatre with Mt. Unabetsu directly to the north.

Icy hill track to the observatory made safe with our Sapporo-bought non-slip grips.

Then, in Akan National Park, we stopped to peer down into the volcanic crater that holds Lake Mashu. The crater walls are 200m high, the lake large and very blue, partially frozen at its shadier end. Measurements of clarity reveal that Lake Mashu is maybe the clearest in the world. Other measurements rate the volcano as "potentially active", but all was quiet for our visit. Lake Mashu is a newcomer in geologic terms, under 32,000 years old. Eruptions occurred 7,000 years ago, and 2,000 years ago. The Ainu people knew the potential here and called Mashu the "Lake of the Devil".

Panorama of Lake Mashu's stunning caldera.

Sika deer safe inside Lake Masha's huge crater.

On the shores of nearby Lake Kussharo we visited Sunayu where we where entertained by the antics of Whooper Swans on the verge of being fed by a business owner no doubt hoping to attract paying customers. More interestingly, we discovered that the 56km circumference Lake Kussharo is also a volcanic caldera which, prior to some eruption, was much larger and included what is now Lake Masha. We saw more swans further around the lake's edge at what seems to be called a "Wild Onsen", where there is a public onsen right on the beach, with an absurd little fence to segregate the sexes. Public nudity here would be rather discouraged by the swarms of photographers lurking in the onsen steam, hoping for great shots of the swans. It's possible to create your own private onsen here - just digging in the sand produces hot water. We imagine the swans are attracted by the warm water.

The Whooper Swans have their eyes on the man with the bucket.

Feeding time at Sunayu.

Another handful of swan food.

Swan photographers in wait by the "Wild Onsen".

You can imagine how the Lake Kussharo crater once encompassed Lake Machu, in this GPS map.

If we had any doubts about how the earth works beneath the surface, having been in the caldera of a "potentially active" volcano, and seen hot water and steam around the edge of a lake, we dispelled them by visiting the active volcano Iou-zan (literally "sulphur mountain"). Here numerous steam jets eject from the side of the hill, leaving the characteristic yellow colour and pungent odour of sulphur. It's a spectacular sight, a wonder to behold and amazing to contemplate what's going on beneath your feet! Inside a nearby souvenir shop, you can buy eggs boiled in the hot springs of Iou-zan.

From a distance, Iou-zan billows steam into the air.

The warning sign tells it all.

Boiling water and steam fizzing out of this hole.

Nice warm spot on a cold day.

As soon as we arrived, we knew the Yoroushi Yuyado Dai-Ichi Ryokan would be a highlight of the trip, a destination in itself, and we should have spent two nights here. It's such a shame we arrived at sunset. The lobby area was large and welcoming, with a firepit and large windows to a beautiful snowy creek replete with birdlife. Management leave food for the birds, and the clientele, mostly photographers judging from the cameras and lenses, lap it up.

Woodpecker emblem of the Yoroushi Yuyado Dai-Ichi Ryokan.

Cosy lobby and common area of the Yorouchi Ryokan.

Predawn outlook from our room.

The very pretty Euasian Jay with his eye on some tucker.

Looks like this Jay is being fed the rock-fish leftovers from last night.

Great Spotted Woodpecker just like at the Yorouchi Ryokan entrance.

Our room in this ryokan was unusual but traditional. The sleeping tatami was in a loft upstairs which we had to crawl into, because the ceiling height was only 1500mm. And we had no private bath or shower - guests here have to use the onsen! The onsen abutted the creek, and was a complex of rockpools and tubs of varying temperatures, indoors and outdoors. There was a large pool for both sexes, defying that old Edo edict requiring segregation to avoid moral depravity.

Red fox by the creek in Yorouchi.

Danger is this lady's business as Mike swings the mallett to make rice-cake.

Departing guests have their boots neatly laid out for them.

Japanese onsen tradition has particular towelling requirements. The only towel you take to the hot bath is what we could call a "hand towel", and while in the preparatory shower you can wash down with it, when you take it to the bath, it must never enter the water. Most bathers place theirs on their head, or on a nearby rock. Regardless, they still get soaking wet from all the steam, and we proved at this onsen that the laws of physics still apply - spinning it around wet in way sub-zero conditions soon freezes it. You are still expected to dry yourself with this soggy towel, and the conditions in the locker room are usually so dry, the heated humidity so low, that this works OK.

Having explained to our guide, Steve, that we were unable to find out what we were eating in the kaiseki meals, and that this was reducing the experience, he (who doesn't eat with us) went to great trouble to translate the menu for us, and helped us to select the main course. This was a great assistance, and we thank him for his responsiveness, and also, here, the staff tried hard to tell us what the various food items were, mostly fish, shrimp and shellfish as is befitting for a seaside village.