We were in Japan for the first time in 2004. Although I had fond memories of it but it didn't feel like being there as we traveled in a fairly big group and in a bus. So, we didn't interact much with Japanese people during our stay there. Why Japan again? Originally, I was considering of going back to Venice, Italy for the third time in the row to take pictures during the Mask Carnival but having recovered from a major surgery, I didn't feel like doing some intensive shooting for 3 or 4 days in a row. When we visited our favorite sushi restaurant, we talked to the sushi chefs about Japan and the idea of going back to Japan came up right there. In the following days we frantically explored the internet and within 10 days, we booked the tour with a little over a week before the departure. The tour we ended up selecting offered both winter wildlife and city/cultural opportunities, much to our liking.

The trip started and ended in Tokyo. On the way in, we spent 2 nights in Asakusa, a traditional area of Tokyo and on the way out, we spent a single night in Shinjuku, the place of high rises and busy shopping area. While there we visited various spots some of which we have been to. As luck would have it, we came across a few wedding couples at a park and at a temple. We also took public transportation, we ate at regular eating establishments and we walked around quite a bit from one spot to the other.

The more exciting portion of the trip started when we arrived in Sapporo, Hokkaido, the place of the annual Snow/Ice Festival. The ice festival took place on a park strip near the TV tower. Hundreds of snow sculptures were on display, some were sponsored by other countries and/or major brands. In general, the snow sculptures are bigger than the ice carvings displayed on the median of a bustling shopping street. Mostly local stores or local brands sponsored the ice carvings, which again were generally smaller but they seemed to be more intricate, showing more details.

The winter festivities are not restricted only to Sapporo. Otaru, which is located approximately 40km from Sapporo is also known for its own festival. The snow sculptures there were made by local folks and to make them interesting, they put in candles or battery-powered lights inside the sculptures. Each section has its own maintenance team to make sure that the candles were burning; they were busy replacing or relighting candles all the time. They displayed the sculptures along a brightly lit canal and along a former railroad track.

The wildlife portion started in Tsurui, the location of the red-crowned Japanese cranes ("tancho" in Japanese). Except for the color, the cranes there look similar to sandhill cranes in California and in New Mexico. Their behavior seems to be also similar but the Japanese cranes dance more readily while their North American counterparts tend to "fight" by kicking each other in mid-air ( https://pbase.com/ageojo/image/133326609). I couldn't believe the number of wildlife photographers at the popular shooting locations but when I think of the conditions at Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, I couldn't help but noticing the resemblance.

Sea eagles were next on the schedule. For that we went Rausu where we boarded an ice breaker in search for drift ice used by eagles to rest and enjoy their catch. After venturing in the open sea for 45 minutes, we got close to the Russian border without encountering any significant drift ice and we turned around. Not far away from the port, there were broken pieces of drift ice and finally, we encountered tons of sea eagles! There are two species, Stellar sea eagles and white-tailed eagles.

Abashiri is a sleepy port town. It seemed that their winter festival consisted of consuming food at the major street of the town. Tons of vendors selling ready to eat meals or meat/seafood that can be grilled right there. During cold winter evenings, sitting together with friends at open fire and just socializing while barbequeing food was a lot of fun and enjoyable.

After spending a week on Hokkaido, we flew back to Honshu and arrived in Kyoto for the cultural part. The geisha district, various temples and pavilions were on the schedule to be visited. To my pleasant surprise there was plenty of wildlife along the Kamo river. Not only, herons, various ducks, mallards and cormorants, but there were also quite a bit of hawks, performing aerial acrobat right above me.

After 3 days in Kyoto, we boarded a train to go to Yudanaka, or to be exact, to Jigokudani (Hell's Valley), the location of the snow monkeys in Nagano Perfecture. At an elevation of 850 meters, the winter conditions can be harsh and typically, snow covers the ground for one-third of the year. The Japanese macaques developed thick fur to fend against cold. Their ancestors discovered hot spring pools and dipped into the warm waters of the onsen from time to time to escape the cold. So, in the winter they mostly stay nearby the hot water pool. The young monkeys looked very adorable. The face of adult monkeys is red, especially during mating season. They are not aggressive at all and they really didn't mind being photographed, even from close distance.

In general, the weather in Tokyo while we were there wasn't bad. Actually, it was pretty sunny most of the time. Temperatures went as high as 12 C during the day although it was chilly, around freezing, in the evening and morning. In Hokkaido, it was a completely different story. Northwest winds bring intense cold air streams down from Siberia. We saw the thermometer hovering between -5 and -10 C during the day and around -15 to -20 C at night or early in the morning. It was snowing when we went to the open air museum in Sapporo and when we spent the afternoon/evening in Otaru. The later represented my coldest experience of the entire trip. I wouldn't describe it as a snow blizzard but in my book, it was close. Not only the snow fall was fairly heavy but and it was very windy at the same time. Maybe it wasn't that cold but the windchill and constant snow fall made it feel very, very cold.

Photography tidbits:
I used two camera bodies on this trip, a Canon 7D crop body for fast wildlife action captures and for the extra reach plus a Canon 5D Mark II for anything else. My lens lineup consists of a 16-35mm Mark II, 24-105mm IS, 35mm f/1.4L and 70-200mm f/2.8 Mark II plus two TCs, a 1.4X and a 2X Mark III. The combination of the crop and full frame cameras made it possible to get a wide range of focal lengths. I wish I had taken a longer lens with me for the wildlife portion. A 400mm f/2.8 Mark II or a 500mm f/4.0 IS would have been great for the cranes but either one was simply too much for me to take on this trip that included other aspects of photography and not just wildlife. So, I had to make it work with the lowly reach of the 70-200mm zoom lens in combination of either the 1.4X or 2X TC on the 7D. For the eagles and snow monkeys portion, my camera gear was sufficient as they were fairly close to my position.

A travel size tripod proved to be extremely helpful for the shots in Otaru when the exposures went to several seconds. It was the only occasion where I actually used the tripod and it was worth bringing just for that.


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