NaturesLens invites you to spend this 14 night/15 day tour traveling throughout the wonderfully diverse landscapes of Japan, specifically Central Honshu & Northern Hokkaido, getting up close to a wide range of native species that thrive in harsh winter conditions. Our Japanese Winter Wildlife photography holiday, which we have been leading for the last 8 years, covers a variety of areas, providing you with unique opportunities to undertake wildlife photography of the highest quality.
Guided by David & Ian, you will visit Central Honshu & Northern Hokkaido & gain an insight into the variety of landscapes & wildlife that exists throughout the country, made even more photogenic by dramatic winter conditions. The photographic opportunities on our Japanese Winter Wildlife photography tour are always without parallel – with opportunities to photograph the red-crowned cranes, Steller’s sea eagles, white-tailed sea eagle, whooper swans, & of course, the Snow Monkeys, during this photography holiday.

Join David & Ian to travel deep into stunning snow-covered landscapes, capturing beautiful images of wildlife which thrives during harsher seasons in Japan. Our group will travel throughout several different regions, including the mountainous area around Yudanaka in central Japan, & north of the mainland to the island of Hokkaido, giving you an insight into the variety of landscapes & wildlife which exists throughout the country, made even more photogenic by dramatic winter conditions.

Our trip offers enthusiastic wildlife photographers the opportunity to rise early for two dawn visits to the famous red-crowned crane roosting sites of the Tsurui region of Hokkaido; spend two days at the Akan red-crowned crane feeding centre; & spend two days observing the beautiful whooper swans which inhabit Lake Kussharo, a frozen caldera lake in the eastern region of Hokkaido.
Not only this, but our trip is unique in offering six boat trips on the drift ice of the Nemuro Strait to photograph Hokkaido’s fabulous Steller’s sea & white-tailed eagle populations as they fly, feed, dive for fish & fight over scraps. These excursions will give you unique access to the native wildlife at each location, providing ample opportunity to obtain incredible images.
Our tour begins in Tokyo; from there we immediately transfer to Hokkaido, the most northerly island of Japan, which holds the most remote & only true wilderness in Japan. North of the island, the Shiretoko Peninsula is recognised for its world heritage site status, as the landscapes of dramatic coastline & soaring mountains are stunning, giving you the perfect backdrop to achieve editorial quality images of the wildlife inhabitants. As we travel across the island, you will have the opportunity to photograph a vast selection of Japanese Winter Wildlife, including red-crowned cranes, black-eared kites, whooper swans as well as white-tailed & Steller’s sea eagles as we cruise through drift ice environments which surround the island & across additional feeding sites on the Nemuro Peninsula to the east of the island.

We will then move onward to Yudanaka & spend two days at the Jigokudani snow monkey site with the Japanese Macaque, also known as the Snow Monkey, in the mountains, at their thermal spa, as they bathe & feed in the area. We give you the second day here so that you have the chance to fine-tune your photography having become more familiar with the environment & the behaviour of this species. After spending the morning with the snow monkeys of Jigokudani Yaen Koen, we will travel to Yamanakako. Our final location is on the shores of  Lake Yamanaka; the view of Mt. Fuji from the lake is breathtaking & has a distinctive shape – making for an iconic image to complete your Japanese Winter Wildlife photography holiday.
Japan is an extraordinary country, & our Japanese Winter Wildlife photography holiday provides wildlife photographers with unrivaled opportunities to capture uniquely beautiful photographs.
In order to present the best photographic opportunities the majority of locations that we make use of throughout this photography holiday are rural or remote in nature, as such food is often based on seafood & is traditional Japanese in style – westernised menus are frequently not available – if you wish to discuss this further prior to booking please contact us.

Group size is limited to between 4 & 5 participants, this is due to the nature of the photography excursions & the type of hotel that we prefer to make use of, so booking early is essential.
[tec_event_itinerary_title][itinerary_element tagline=" day 1"] flight to tokyo from home location [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 2"] meet at haneda domestic terminal & transfer to hokkaido [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 3"] early morning location shoot for red-crowned crane roosting site, full-day photography of red-crowned cranes in tsuri [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 4"] early morning location shoot for red-crowned crane roosting site, half-day photography of red-crowned cranes in tsuri & transfer to kussharo [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 5"] full-day photography of whooper swans [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 6"] half-day photography of whooper swans & transfer to rausu [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 7"] two early morning boat trips for photography of steller's & white-tailed sea eagles, possible afternoon photography on notsuke penninsula [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 8"] two early morning boat trips for photography of steller's & white-tailed sea eagles, possible afternoon photography on notsuke penninsula [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 9"] two early morning boat trips for photography of steller's & white-tailed sea eagles, transfer to notsuke penninsula [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 10"] early morning location shoot for photography of steller's & white-tailed sea eagles plus foxes & black-eared kites, late morning or afternoon cruise for eagles & sea-birds on the nemuro coast [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 11 "] early morning location shoot for photography of steller's & white-tailed sea eagles plus foxes & black-eared kites, afternoon transfer to tokyo [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 12"] drive from haneda to yudanaka [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 13"] snow monkey photography [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 14"] ½ day of snow monkey photography & transfer to yamanakako - sunset at yamanakako lake looking towards mount fuji [/itinerary_element] [itinerary_element tagline=" day 15"] sunrise at yamanakako lake looking towards mount fuji, ½ day of swan photography alongside the lake & return to haneda - trip concludes [/itinerary_element]