Flooded Kushiro Marsh

As snow melts more and more everyday, Kushiro marsh is getting flooded.


"Flooded Kushiro Marsh"

Because of the good amount of snow we had this year, it seems that the water level at Marsh seems higher this year.



"Ezo Shika Deer Trails in Water"

Brown Bear near the House...

You may not associate Japan with bears, but we do have two kinds of bears.

On the main island calld Honshu, we have blackbears. And here in Hokkaido, the Northern island,we have brown bears.

Today as I was walking on the trail in the moutain behind my house, I came across the big print on the snow.



Undoutedly this is the track of a brown bear. Deep marks of his/her claws showed the size of this bear.

I have never seen the actual bear yet in Hokkaido, but I was surprised to see even the track so close to my house.

Next time I go into the moutain, I will take my bear spray...

Back to Winter

As the first sign of spring, butterbur sprouts came out last week.

Like many Japanese who live in the country side, I have been wanting to pick them to eat, but I have not had a chance until today.

Unfortunately it was snowing this morning, so my "spring hunt" was not quite warm like a spiring day.

Yet, it was nice to see the plant covered in light snow, giving me a sense of vitality of life in spring.

After taking a photo of them, I pick out several buds and fed one to my favorite horse and the rest to myself.

Paddling Kushiro River

There lies a big river running through Kushiro Marshi in Eastern Hokkaido, Japan.

My friend and I paddled Kushiro river today with our kayaks.

Starting at the nearby Toro lake, we had to thrust through a thin layer of ice with our kayaks, but the rest of the trip was quite fun.



With the spring thawed water, the water level at the river was very high.

We spotted a lot of Ezo shika deers, four minks and many ducks.

Almost inaccessible on foot, Kushiro river gives a chance to explore the marsh to those who like to paddle the river.

Another beautiful day....

^

Cranes back to Marshland

Today I went to bike on the gravel road that cut through the marsh.

Motor vehicles are not permitted on the road, so my friend and I were the only ones on road for the three hour Marshland bike trip.

Japanese cranes are back in the marsh for the spring and you hardly see them in the Tsurui village anymore.

AFter biking about 30 minutues, I found one pair of white dots in the yellowish grass.

Sure enough they were Tancho(Japanese Cranes)looking for food in the marsh.

In the Fog

The outside was covered by fog this morning.

This area in Southeast Hokkaido is famous for thick fog during spring, summer and fall.

Standing in the middle of fog, the landscape reminded me of the black and white Japanese traditional painting.

Here is a photo of the day.

Back to Hokkaido

I was in the mainland Japan for about 2 weeks and came back to Hokkaido last night.

The ground is still covered with snow, but much of it has been melted while I was away.

I saw a few red foxes running across in the field today.

Here is a photo...

Crane Band

As the spring comes, more and more cranes are soon going back to the marshland in the Eastern Part of Hokkaido.

Japanese cranes are usually solitary birds, usually found as a pair and a lone crane. But in the winter, while keeping a partnership as a pair. they seem to form a temporaly group when they gather in the village feeding ground.

As I lay on the snow looking up the sky, a crane herd fly river over me today.

Here is a photo...

Cranes in the Strong Wind

The wind has been blowing strong all day today.

Japanese cranes usually fly very elegantly with 2m long wings wide open, but today they had difficuly keeping a balance in the air. They flew in circle and higher than usual so that they don't hit trees when they are pushed by the wind.

Because of the wind, some of them flew out of their usual flying route and happened to fly in front of the sun.

Here is the photo....

Deer Buck

After the deer hunting seasons closed, there are more deers on the moutain road.

I came across with a deer buck with one antler missing...

Ezo Sika Deer

Today at Kushiro Marsh, I spotted many deers called Ezo Sika Deer.

These deers were once close to extinction, but now they are everywhere in Hokkaido.(One of the reason why deer population grew was that predators like wolves became extinct.)

The Hokkaido government is try to balance the population, but with the declining number of hunters, it seems to be more and more deers...

Here is a photo from today.