A Hokkaido photography workshop means exploring off the beaten path locations and seeing amazing wildlife, but it’s also an opportunity to indulge in 森林浴, shinrin yoku, or forest bathing.  Many Academia institutes place the founding of forest bathing in the 1980s, but our main workshop leader is an amateur historian who has extensively studied Japanese history, sociology, and he can tell you that the name ‘forest therapy’ may be a modern coinage, but the practice has been around for as long as there have been forests, so essentially the entirety of modern society as we know it.  So what exactly is Shinrin Yoku?  It’s the practice of relaxing in nature and enjoying it with all your senses.  Most often, people participating in forest therapy are not actively scouting for birds or other wildlife, and even though the goal of my Hokkaido photography workshop tours is once in a lifetime wildlife and landscape photography, the JDS team does all the work introducing you to photo ops with the Steller’s Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), White-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), Blakiston’s Fish Owls (Ketupa bubo blakistoni), Red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis), Ezo sika deer (Cervus nippon), and Hokkaido’s red foxes (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) among other species as well as Hokkaido’s minimalist landscapes, so you can focus on the health benefits of forest bathing between locations on the itinerary.  After a refreshing walk in one of Hokkaido’s many forests, spotting and photographing, you will be stress-free with a memory card full of breathtaking images.