9 nights, 4 stops — brown bears, whales and the wild coast.
Kushiro → Shiretoko National Park → Rausu → Lake Akan.
Round trip · returns to Kushiro
Arrive in Kushiro, met and transferred to your accommodation. The red-crowned crane, symbol of longevity in Japan, performs its courtship dance in the Kushiro snow — a photographer's dream.
Crane feeding stations and the winter wetland. Photograph the dancing red-crowned cranes in the snow.
Transfer to Shiretoko National Park. A wilderness cruise for coastal brown bears. The UNESCO coast by boat, with bears and eagles.
The UNESCO coast by boat, with bears and eagles. A full day of Shiretoko's wild coast and wildlife. Shiretoko's roadless, UNESCO-listed coast is the wildest in Japan — brown bears on the shore, eagles overhead, whales offshore.
A full day of Shiretoko's wild coast and wildlife.
Transfer to Rausu. A dawn cruise among sea eagles on the drift ice. Drift ice and eagles by boat, with coastal wildlife.
Drift ice and eagles by boat, with coastal wildlife. A full day of sea-eagle and drift-ice photography. Off Rausu, hundreds of Steller's sea eagles gather on the winter drift ice — one of the planet's great raptor spectacles.
Transfer to Lake Akan. A night vigil for Blakiston's fish owl, with the frozen lake by day. Winter forest, the frozen lake and Ainu culture.
Winter forest, the frozen lake and Ainu culture. Blakiston's fish owl, the largest owl on earth, haunts the rivers around Lake Akan — a rare and magical sighting.
A final morning in Lake Akan — a last outing or a slow start as time allows — before the transfer onward and the journey home.
Peak crane season — the dancing and snowy backdrops.
Cranes are resident; winter is the spectacle.
A refined hot-spring ryokan at Lake Akan, the area's most luxurious stay.
A seafront hot-spring resort at Utoro, the gateway to Shiretoko's cruises.
A comfortable hot-spring hotel well placed for the Rausu sea-eagle cruises.
A reliable city hotel in Kushiro, convenient for the crane sites.
A relaxed mountain-style resort near the Shiretoko trailheads.
A simple, welcoming hotel in the Rausu fishing port.
Add nights, swap a park, extend to the coast — this route is a starting point, not a fixed menu. Tell us how you travel and we'll route the rest.