insights from frontier Japan

From late March through April, the skies above Eastern Hokkaido's town of Kushiro are filled with birds returning north. Swans feed on aquatic plants and the like at migratory resting areas to keep their strength up. They fly over three thousand kilometers for two to three months, aiming for breeding areas in the Russian Far East.

Amid the expansive fields of Tokachi, straight stretches of roads that look as if they reach to the heavens are dotted here and there. The Minami 10-sen road that runs almost east-west through Tobetsu in the town of Makubetsu is one of those roads. Here, just twice a year – in the period after the spring equinox and just before the autumn equinox – the sun can be seen rising from a point that is an extension of the road. Each time is a magical spectacle that’s limited to just a few minutes.

Like the spotted seal – which is known by the nickname of “Goma-chan” and is a protective white color that blends in with the ice – newly born ribbon seal cubs are also cute. They are not so cautious of their surroundings and, if you’re lucky, you may even be able to encounter a scene of a suckling cub.

On March 30, the Ministry of the Environment upgraded the Akkeshi Prefectural Natural Park (in Akkeshi, Kushiro and Hamanaka in the Kushiro region of eastern Hokkaido) to a quasi-national park, and designated it the Akkeshi Kiritappu Kombumori Quasi-national Park.

The Urahoro Anemone, a flower that heralds the coming of spring in the Tokachi region of eastern Hokkaido, began blooming in Tobuto in the town of Urahoro around April 2, ten days earlier than usual.

A forest in the town of Shibecha in eastern Hokkaido, where the snow continues to melt. In the evening, as light remains in the sky, the nocturnal flying squirrels are already becoming active.

March marks the beginning of the mating season for red-crowned cranes. It is also a season for parting with offspring born in the previous spring. Parents stop taking care of their young, and encourage them to become independent by pushing them away if the young approach.

Mystical misty landscapes like the ones depicted in the film ‘Moruerani no kiri no naka’, which was set in Muroran in central Hokkaido, could be seen at places around Muroran on the morning of March 12. From the Mt. Sokuryo Observatory Deck, a sea of white clouds could be seen spanning the Hakucho Bridge beneath the blue sky, as sea mists flowed from the bay in line with the terrain.

In 2016, when the Hokkaido Shinkansen (bullet train) began operating, the gyrfalcon was used as the symbol mark of the rolling stock. Hokkaido’s photographers were alerted: “If the timing is right, we’d like to run a photo in the newspaper”. The bird of prey breeds in the Arctic region and seldom flies into Hokkaido, and I had only photographed it once before.