Hokkaido - Winter Landscapes of Japan

There is so much to see in the Biei and Shi­rogane areas and the win­ter land­scape con­sists of field edges sur­round­ed by gen­tly rolling hills and vast open white spaces. In the after­noon we dri­ve towards the coast and to Shosan­bet­su and the famous Torii Gate and the sea ice.

After Biei, Shi­rogane and Shosan­bet­su areas, we then move on to explore the coastal areas of Oumu with its fish­ing har­bours and fish­ing huts. We then head inland into the snowy white can­vas to explore the Teshio area with its black riv­er that cuts through open white farm­land often dot­ted with green­house frames from the sum­mers grow­ing activity.

Leav­ing Teshio we head for Abashiri dis­trict. Our local guide will ush­er you to the first loca­tion to shoot the infa­mous Kuro­sawa trees dot­ting the rolling and hilly land­scape pro­vid­ing a graph­ic con­trast against the white snowy can­vas. We head back to Cape Notoro, the loca­tion of the light­house and the fence that Michael Ken­na fre­quent­ly cap­tures. We trav­el towards Futat­sui­wa dis­trict to cap­ture the pic­turesque land­scape with Mt Shari in the background.

Con­tin­u­ing our adven­ture to Abashiri then on to Futat­su Iwa, to shoot the spiky twin out­crop ris­ing above the waters called Futat­sui Rocks. We pro­ceed south­ward along the coast­line to view drift ice with the ice-capped Mount Shari in the back­ground. From the coastal road, we head to the near­by Oshinkoshin Falls, one of Japan’s best 100 water­falls. Here we will pho­to­graph the frozen shafts of water amidst the stark trees with spindly branch­es. We head towards Utoro at sun­set for din­ner and a night’s stay.

After sun­rise, we head back to the coast of Abashiri to expe­ri­ence the breath­tak­ing drift ice break­ing and float­ing across the Sea of Okhot­sk. If you are lucky you can catch Steller’s sea eagles and spot­ted seals. We then trav­el east to Hamakoshimizu to cap­ture the stark win­ter tree line con­trast­ing against the white snow. We head south to the Lake Kussharo in Teshik­a­ga Dis­trict. We return to Kawayu Spa.

We rise ear­ly to catch the morn­ing mist cre­at­ing ghost­ly images around the win­try trees at the near­by Kawayu For­est. We con­tin­ue our explo­ration at Lake Kussharo to find whoop­er swans that return to the Lake every win­ter. In addi­tion, you may be able to catch a glimpse of oth­er wildlife like the Sika deer, Siber­ian chip­munks and white-tailed eagles. Locat­ed near­by is Mount Io, famous for its hot springs and sul­phur filled moun­tain. In win­ter, the white steam cuts the moun­tain to cre­ate a breath­tak­ing pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty. We head south to anoth­er of Michael Ken­na’s icon­ic spot — the hill­side fence that guards the snowy hills of Teshikaga.

We ven­ture to Lake Mashu a caldera lake in Akan Nation­al Park. It has the rep­u­ta­tion to be the clear­est lake in the world and the most beau­ti­ful in Japan. You can enjoy unob­struct­ed views from two obser­va­tion decks. Pho­tog­ra­phers will have to look out for the vol­canic peak on the west­ern side of the lake and the infa­mous fog that blan­kets the lake. For more angles of the view you can enjoy the hik­ing trail that rims the lake. We trav­el west to Lake Akan resort for the night.

We spend a day at Lake Akan to absorb and cap­ture the scenic hill­top trees around the lake. In win­ter, the lake freezes over and the mist adds a bit of mys­tery to the place. We vis­it two more loca­tions made famous by Michael Ken­na, the min­i­mal­is­tic ​‘Inclined Posts’ and the ​‘Wind­blown Flags’, both of which are in the vicin­i­ty of Lake Akan. Avid wildlife shoot­ers can head south­wards to Akan Tan­cho Crane Nation­al Park to catch the red-crest­ed cranes that are the offi­cial birds of Hokkaido.

For many pho­tog­ra­phers, this expe­ri­ence will be like no oth­er and work­ing in a land­scape with such beau­ti­ful sim­plic­i­ty will be a new. Paul Gal­lagher and Michael Pilk­ing­ton will be encour­ag­ing you to enjoy your cre­ative free­dom and explore the many dif­fer­ent ways in which you can express your­self as a pho­tog­ra­ph­er in these win­ter con­di­tions. Feel free to break the rules and take pho­tos that mean some­thing to you as an indi­vid­ual. After break­fast, we will pro­ceed to our depar­ture air­port. Please note that the depar­ture air­port is Kushi­ro and not Asahikawa Airport.