Japan is the ultimate destination for wildlife and landscape photographers. Japan is 3000 kilometers long with 6,852 Islands and is surprisingly 70% unpopulated wilderness. There are two regions of Japan the southern tropics is called the Watase line, to the north where winter occurs we call that the Blackiston line. The wildlife is incredibly diverse, thousands of animal species thrive in Japan, over 600 bird species have been recorded to date. During winter in Hokkaido, you can expect to photograph the stellers sea eagle, white tailed eagle, golden eagle, red-crowned crane, black kite, whooper swan, red tailed fox. You may also wish to view a large herd of sika deer; access is limited tourist vehicles such as minibusses and cars are unable to traverse the terrain, we use sports utility vehicles to gain entry with our experienced staff drivers behind the wheel. In the winters of 2015, 2016 and 2017 I photographed a herd of over 500 sika deer. This is a rare event, timing and weather are everything to capture this breathtaking scene.
To the South, we have Jigokudani Yaen-Koen home to the snow monkeys, where you may enjoy up close and personal encounters with the wild snow monkeys. Annually I spend several weeks per year photographing and video-recording the snow monkeys. I am familiar with individual monkeys in the park including their rank and behaviors. During last winters workshops, our client's were well prepared that they had all their shots of the monkeys in the hot springs on the first day. The next day we were able to concentrate our efforts on action shots of the snow monkeys, jumping the local alpine river, playing around in the heavy snow and climbing rocks and trees in Jigokudani National Park.