Having explored a vast majority of Japan while scouting or leading Japan photography workshop tours, and when colleagues or friends ask our main workshop leader to choose a favorite spot, he first asks what season, as he has been traveling extensively throughout Japan for more than two decades.  Winter or summer Hokkaido and Hokkaido photography workshops are one of the first thoughts to come to his mind, mainly because photographers and nature lovers can experience so many different photographic themes at once.  Each February, and for a few months each year, he spends time leading private or group multi-themed photography workshops on Japan’s north island.  Birding is always a popular theme, Red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis) are especially popular, and no Hokkaido birding photo tour would be complete without The Steller's Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus) and their frenemy raptors the White-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) on pack-ice.  On other days, he and his clients make their way inland to the high alpine lakes of Hokkaido’s northwest comprised of Akanko, Kushiroko, and Mashuko Lakes, which are among the clearest and cleanest on our planet.  Hokkaido holds unique opportunities for any photographer, and it is recognized internationally for its diversity of wildlife, cultural, and beautiful landscapes.

Across Japan, more than 600 bird species have been recorded to date, more than 60% are migratory.  Approximately 60 species are endemic or sub-regional endemic. Japan is latitudinally long at over 3,000 kilometers and has 6,852 islands, and Japan’s flora and fauna are divided by two ecological lines, the Blakiston’s Line, which is between Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan’s main island and the Watase Line which is just below Kyushu, Japan’s south island between Honshu and Okinawa to the far south. Certain wildlife species are found only north of the Blakiston’s Line, while certain other species are only found south of it.  These two lines and demarcated regions in Japan make it exceptional due to the wide diversity of plant and wildlife species that thrive in different regions. Several species found north of the Blakiston’s line are part of the wildlife participants and our workshop leaders spot and photograph on the annual JDS Hokkaido photography workshop, the Ezo Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), Yezo like deer (Cervus nippon), Ezo red fox, Blakiston’s Fish Owl (Ketupa bubo blakistoni), and The Steller’s Sea Eagle among others.