insights from frontier Japan

Autumn foliage at ‘Shiretoko Goko’ (five lakes), a popular tourist spot in the Shiretoko World Natural Heritage site in the town of Shari in eastern Hokkaido, reached its peak on October 1. Leaves on the Manchurian ash and mizunara (Mongolian oak) trees in the vicinity of the lakes have turned various shades of red, yellow and orange. Many visitors could be seen taking photographs with Smartphones and cameras on an elevated boardwalk that commands panoramic views directly in front of the Shiretoko Mountain Range and one of the lakes. According to the Shiretoko Goko Field House, the colors of the leaves began to turn in late September, one week earlier than usual.

"Shiretoko Sustainable Week" was held from October 1–10. It was organized by an action committee composed of entities including the Shiretoko Nature Foundation (Shari Town), and initiated to coincide with a pilot program for tourism amidst the Shiretoko Peninsula restrictions on private car usage. Centering around the Shiretoko National Park Nature Center, a diverse range of events were featured, including trekking tours, lectures, and art events.

Propelling its tail fin high in the air, the giant sperm whale begins to dive. Sightseers aboard the boat cheer at the breathtaking sight. I searched for whales on a whale watching sightseeing boat that departed from Rausu Port.　Although sperm whales have large bodies, they have comparatively small back fins, making them difficult to find. According to the guide on the sightseeing boat, sperm whales spout air at a slightly diagonal angle, and that can be one way of spotting them. But even using binoculars, all I could see was the brightly shining sea water.

On September 23, a dead, beached whale was seen being eaten by brown bears at Shiretoko Peninsula in the town of Shari, situated in Eastern Hokkaido's Okhotsk region. A video was captured by a passenger on a brown bear observation cruise ship that departed from the Aidomari Fishing Port in the town of Rausu.

In order to photograph brown bears off the coast of the tip Shiretoko Peninsula, where there are no roads, a boat departs from the Utoro port in the town of Shari. We had received information from the crew of a Shiretoko sightseeing boat, of “sightings of bears swimming in the sea”, and requested boat-owning colleagues to take us there. There are no fears of suddenly approaching brown bears from a boat, and many brown bears have been confirmed walking along the coastline, but it’s not easy to encounter a swimming bear.

Short-tailed shearwaters migrate from their breeding grounds in southeastern Australia, flying more than 30,000 km per year between the northern and southern hemispheres. They follow shoals of fish and dive into the sea to prey on krill that float near the water’s surface.

Killer whales swim in the Sea of Okhotsk waters off the coast of the Eastern Hokkaido town of Rausu, and June through July is the best season for spotting them. Family groups called pods can be spotted, and sometimes super pods composed of multiple groups even appear.

Part of the closed Shiretoko Park Prefectural Highway that leads to the Kamuiwakka Hot-spring Falls, a famous sightseeing spot on the Shiretoko Peninsula in eastern Hokkaido was opened on June 1. In no time, tourists who came to visit the falls were enjoying climbing it, as steam rose from the water that cascaded down amid the fresh greenery.

　Two bear cubs that were born in the winter hibernation den and are just a few months old, follow their mother. As the length of stride of the mother bear, which weighs over 100 kg, is different, the cubs break into a trot to keep up with her as she ambles along.