Japan’s Cultural and Wild Frontiers

Japan’s Cultural and Wild Frontiers

Landscape & Environment

April 14, 2021 ·

Blain Harasymiw

Every photography tour workshop itinerary offered has sunshine and rainbows written into it, but vital elements to any successful itinerary are planning and experience. And your photo tour workshop leader or any true expedition pro leader will have a back-up plan plus a back-up for the back-up in case of foul weather or if any other situation arises. This is never clearer than when I hear stories from colleagues, friends, and clients about cherry blossom tours hosted by local Japan tour guides without careful and thorough planning. Anyone with any experience in leading photography workshops knows that cherry blossoms don’t suddenly burst into full bloom at the moment of your arrival. Mother Nature has her own timing and probably will not coincide with your timing. The entire country’s sakura reaches full bloom at different times, and many other factors contribute to when the sakura is at its hanami peak.

This is precisely the reason why my cherry blossom photography workshop tours are cross-country adventures. If the sakura is not in bloom at our first location, then I have a second, third, fourth, fifth, and countless other spots in mind, so participants who join my cherry blossom photography tour workshop know they are going to view and photograph sakura in full bloom. When leading a cherry blossom expedition, you’ve got to be diligent in your pursuit of the perfect bloom. My photo tour itineraries are born from experience. Before I ran cross country cherry blossom expeditions, I had a couple of unnerving experiences with cherry blossoms not opening due to weather and global climate changes or having already fallen from the trees. My assistant and I, on a couple of past occasions, had to make itinerary changes on the fly while with participants so they could experience cherry blossoms in full bloom. The modified itinerary meant canceling hotel reservations, making new reservations, calling friends and colleagues to find where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and it took considerable effort and cost. Still, I felt I had no other choice, as the cherry blossoms were the reason why my clients booked their Japan Cherry Blossom Photo Tour workshop. Through years of experience leading tours and scouting locations in Japan, I have begun to understand how to integrate the fickle sakura into my photo tours, spanning from Tokyo, Osaka, to the Sea of Japan and north to Aomori. If you manage to come to Japan in search of the quintessential cherry blossom and you arrive on the perfect day, you are hugely lucky, beyond lucky! I’d recommend buying a lottery ticket immediately after you take your last photograph because you’ll never have a luckier day.Image: Cherry Blossom in Japan

Cherry blossoms are beautiful, and I love them as much as I love photographing Hokkaido wildlife. It is next to impossible to beat being up close and personal with the largest herd of Ezo sika deer on our planet, close to 1,000 or possibly more, and a friend of mine, who starred in The Last Samurai, would agree with me. I recall sitting together several times and discussing the samurai and often taking a moment to admire our katana and tanto collections; some of our pieces are hundreds and a few one thousand years old or older, and many of my friend’s tanto handles are crafted from deer antlers, and to my delight, in his collection, is a full suit of samurai body armor made from deerskin and lacquered with urushi to provide protection from weather and battle. Some armor includes lacquered wood, copper, silver, brass, or gold, as well as precious stones. The helmets of high-ranking samurai were often decorated with antlers, which symbolized the samurai’s identity, rank, and most importantly, his bravery in the art of Bushido, the way of the samurai. And we all know the scene in The Last Samurai when in his last breath, exhaling, “The perfect cherry blossom” as the petals flutter around like shimmering falling snow in a Hokkaido snowstorm, and then expiring.

Today, authentic samurai armor is hard to come by, but you can easily purchase indenya from shops I know well in Yamanashi, Japan. Indenya has been around since the Nara Period (710 – 794 AD). Although the indenya process was initially conceived for creating tools of the samurai, the modern incarnations of indenya are crafted as vividly detailed characters such as birds, cats, flowers, or samurai depicted in lacquer onto deer leather, which has been tanned to be soft and pliable for today’s connoisseurs of wallets, men’s handbags, women’s purses, briefcases, and other goods. The Zen-like calm created by viewing cherry blossoms and the kinetic energy associated with the creation of indenya and the Ezo sika deer herds of Hokkaido are inherently connected. Each one of these phenomena is a manifestation of the samurai spirit, yet all are expressed differently. Just as the samurai warriors felt emblazoning their armor and helmets with deer antlers imbued them with the protection and courage of a wild, untamable beast, there is still a desire today for indenya products that offer the same properties. Indenya’s creation is a vital element of Japan’s cultural practice, mentioned in the oldest existing history book in Japan, the Nihon-shoki, but I, myself, prefer to be up close and personal with the vital Ezo sika deer herds surging around me as a professional wildlife photographer.

Wildlife Hokkaido photography tour workshop expeditions take an experienced team leader and a team who understand survival in sub-arctic conditions, and a bonus is to have staff that enjoys winter camping as much as I do. Hokkaido reminds me of the Canadian Yukon or Alaska. Hokkaido winter photography adventures mean extreme weather conditions could arise without warning. Without the proper team, preparations, and knowing the terrain, you could end up like the Donner party, so make sure before traveling to Hokkaido you have diligently done your research. If you’re looking to join a photo tour in northern Japan, there are only a few of us locals that run workshops in Hokkaido, and a few use local guides, but there are only a couple I would recommend. And when picking your expedition leader, make sure he or she is experienced in winter terrains because the difference between expedition leaders and guides can be night and day. Most have never spent a night camping when it’s -40°C, and I can tell you it’s life or death at that temperature. Thankfully, the coldest I have ever seen it in Hokkaido during the day is -25°C, comfortable camping weather. There is an endless number of fly-by-night photo tour operators, and they disappear and reappear at an alarming pace.

I can think of several examples of fly-by-night photo tour workshop operators. And one, in particular, caught my attention several years back; this individual signed up for my newsletter, contacted me on several occasions, asking unusually detailed questions about my itineraries. And a few years back, he was going to join my Hokkaido workshop, but thankfully we were full. He went with another workshop to Hokkaido, and after spending a whole five days in Hokkaido, he started advertising winter Hokkaido photography tours. I’m not against this person in particular. I’m merely interpreting the facts, and he is not safe to lead a winter Hokkaido photography tour workshop. I’ll give you one example. He has the tour route on his website, and he has a road that he has never driven to. How do I know this? Well, because in winter, this road is 100% closed, and there is a gate you can see in the image above, and you don’t have to take my word for it. The Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau (link: https://info-road.hdb.hkd.mlit.go.jp/en/) has the route “Shiretoko Pass” marked as closed during the winter months, a summer road only. And even worse, similarly minded individuals have ‘Covid-safe’ posted on their websites. Covid-safe is a pipe dream.

2020 was a bust for photography expeditions except for February in Hokkaido. My friends and clients were unable to visit and explore Japan with my team and me in the latter half of 2020 due to social distancing. Right now, I am 85% sure by autumn 2021, we’ll be good to go, and Hokkaido February 2022, I’m 95% good to go, but the safety measures are going to continue. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, Covid-safe is a pipe dream, and the photographic landscape has forever been changed. I have already contacted all my clients for 2022 and beyond. Below is an excerpt from a letter that I sent to clients:“International travel is going to change. I believe there will be a Covid-19 vaccine passport, and I am sure Japanese Customs will double down. I am very hopeful that portable finger-prick test kits will be ready, reliable, and available for the general public this year before the Olympics. If they’re not ready, it’s going to be messy, but I am sure once I pick up clients at Tokyo-Haneda International airport, and they have undergone testing, I am confident in my abilities and my teams’ abilities to keep them safe. If the finger-prick tests are ready, you can be sure I will also be doubling down and checking everyone, my team and I included, in front of each other before entering SUVs. More than likely, everyone will test negative, but I will still require everyone to wear a 3M N95 mask, but if participants have breathing difficulties, I will have a substitute. I will not be running summer tours as I want nothing to do with the Tokyo Olympics, a resolution I made before Covid-19 due to price hikes, traffic congestion, humidity, and heat. As a further safety measure, everyone will have a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kit containing: sanitizers, 3M N95 masks with fresh air vents, gloves, goggles, and other items.

Before any client enters a hotel, I will walk the hotel and the rooms and check for proper sanitization. Every accommodation is one where I have established a dialogue with the owners and know the location well. Some of the owners have become friends through the years I have been leading Japan Photography expeditions, and while on assignments, so they are people and accommodations where I am confident that the owners will do everything they can to keep my clients, team, and me safe. I will have to run a tight ship until the vaccine is in the high 90 percent and cases are less than the common cold. The continued safety of my clients, team members, and I are priority one. If you have any questions regarding entry restrictions, safety protocols, or anything else regarding your Japan Photography workshop tour, please feel free to contact me.”

Even if you are not going to join me in Japan, or if you’re coming to Japan with another group or leading a group yourself, you’re more than welcome to contact me. I’ll advise you on keeping you and your participants safe as much as I can, as I would hope and expect the same from my colleagues. This may seem a bit contradictory to my statements above regarding the Hokkaido Photo Tour leader, but this individual has crossed the line more than once. The chances of finding out this individual’s identity from the information listed are slim, but I feel it needs to be said because today, everybody with a camera who is a little computer savvy is going into business trying to lead photo tours, and they are not true professionals, and they have little to no experience as explorers. They are similar to YouTubers or what is referred to as influencers.

The reason you don’t want an influencer or a YouTube all-star leading your photography expedition workshop is that they don’t have access to the insider information that a local pro photographer and experienced explorer would have or know how to get. Air, land, shipping lane, and weather charts all became the Covid-19 charts that I used in February 2020 to keep my team and clients safe, and everyone returned to their home countries or their next destination Covid-free, including my team and me. As mentioned in a previous article, Japan’s 2019-20 winter season was predominately snowless, which ended up being a godsend. 95% of Japan’s ski resorts were closed, and the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido organizers were required to truck in snow for the sculptures. Another stroke of good fortune was the ice sculptures melting and the festival ending a week earlier, just as the cases of Covid-19 were spiking in Asia. 98% fewer people were visiting Japan from the Asian sub-continent. Most people were worried about the state of Japan in terms of Covid-19, but I was more worried about my clients returning home because many of the countries they were returning to were the countries that all the tourists from China were visiting instead of Japan.

Those who are uninitiated in a wildlife safari or who have yet to lace up their boots and set those boots to ground with me on my annual Hokkaido adventure may think that only one type of safari exists. Even reading the word ‘safari,’ your first instinct is probably Africa, elephants, lions, cheetahs, wildebeests, and other wildlife of the African savannah. As a world adventurer, I have explored and lived in these regions of Africa where all types of wildlife roam, and Africa is an amazing photographic experience. I’ve witnessed my share of stampeding wildebeests and elephants on African safaris, and I’ve seen large herds of Porcupine Caribou who migrate in the Canadian Yukon and Alaska that have a similar migratory pattern to the Ezo sika deer that travel a much shorter migration. A few years back, when I was co-leading a Hokkaido Photo Tour with Jim Zuckerman, and he wanted to photograph the Sapporo Ice Festival with our clients. My response was that I wanted nothing to do with that, “I’m going to the wild frontier,” I stated, and I boarded a plane while a colleague, Koji Endo, boarded his in Tokyo. We met in Nakashibetsu, so while my team and the rest of the group were in Sapporo enjoying the annual Snow Festival, Koji and I availed ourselves of an opportunity to do some off-roading and see if we could find the largest herd of Ezo sika deer on the planet rumored to be gathered in the region. Our adventure took us to seek out new locations on the eastern end of Hokkaido, spanning Rausu, Nakashibetsu, and Nemuro. I had spent about 15 years in Hokkaido, and there were a few roads I had yet to explore, so I was excited about the chance to find more off the beaten path locations. As we passed one trail in particular, I began to run through the catalog of roads, paths, trails, and Hokkaido highways in my mind and Garmin GPS, but I couldn’t place this path I had just seen. I brought our SUV to a stop, and I thought to myself, “This is just a walking trail, isn’t it?” And as if to answer my question, Koji and I simultaneously set our eyes on what we knew to be fresh tire tracks leading up to and on to this trail, which looked just like a pathway to the ocean for fishing. More thoughts raced through my head, “I’ve traveled almost every pathway resembling a road in this region. “We’ve got to take a closer look,” I said, so we went for it, and the going was rough, and we had to drive on ice for about 100 meters, but being born in Canada and driving winter roads, this was nothing new to me.

At moments such as these, I heed the call of the concierge of the Zen forest, part my intuition personified, but also something more. The concierge appeared that day and led us down a new path. The reason the concierge is more than my intuition is that I believe in spirit guides, power spots, and I sometimes feel them pulling me in the direction of a mass of energy calling out, something akin to a leprechaun calling, or asking me to check something out just a little more thoroughly. That voice in the back of my head telling me, “Do it. Find it.” Just as there’s good luck, there are occasionally complicated omens or instances where I hear the summons but choose to ignore it while out in the wild alone or with my team. At times like these, I feel like Hunter S. Thompson gave me a bad tab taking my adventure down an unforgettable path. Although clients never join me on these excursions, my adventures have led to me to more than one night swaddled in my -40°C sleeping bag, reclining in my SUV or my Mountain Hardware tent on the side of the road, waiting for a snowstorm to clear. I was raised First Nations Canadian in the wild northern frontier, and what I interpret as my concierge or spirit guide seemed to be encouraging me to take the road. I believe there are multiple entities that have guided and compelled me down these hidden pathways to hidden power spots throughout my lifetime and adventures and kept me safe on expeditions. This turned into one of the most brilliant power spots I could have asked for, a once in a lifetime power spot find. After about an hour of off-roading, we slowly drove to approximately a 1 km distance reaching a sea of wildlife. As we inched forward, I began to distinguish antlers and other shapes belonging to the largest herd of Ezo sika deer on the planet, 1000+ deer. We ultimately stopped only 200 yards (180 meters) away on a thin parcel of land with water everywhere except behind us, about 40 yards (36 meters) wide, and I could see a pathway to the left, and I knew that would be the deers’ stampede route once they caught wind of us. We enjoyed 20 uninterrupted minutes of photography before the deer did catch wind of us and took the pathway out, and they returned into the wild frontier of

Hokkaido, 3 – 5 abreast, a flood of hooves, antlers, and fur. They represent a once in a lifetime experience that everyone should have, and their wild and beautiful ferocity is something to behold; it brought tears to my eyes and Koji’s, and I knew from that moment forward, I had to have this experience again to share with my clients, team, family, and friends.

Driving along the frozen marshlands, ocean and navigating other hazards and obstacles along the trail to the largest herd of Ezo sika deer make me feel like Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon. As his battalion crossed the shallow river at the then northern border of Italy, it is reported that he uttered, ‘The die is cast,’ for he had passed the point of no return. However, this is not a choice I make every year. During my annual Hokkaido Photography Tour in 2017, 2018 and my private 2019 Hokkaido tour, participants and I had the good fortune of excellent conditions for the herd of the Ezo sika deer to be gathered. But there are some conditions beyond my control. I take my winter wonderland safari of Japan’s northern island seriously because seeing the largest herd of Ezo sika deer on the planet is a decision that only two people, myself and one other, can make. Once committed, the drive is five kilometers using 4x4s in low gear on trails that don’t qualify as anything close to a ‘road.’ If you are unfamiliar with navigating frozen boggy terrain, you are better off warming your feet at your lodgings, but I have never been stuck in a bog on one of my Hokkaido photography workshop tours because my team and I often get out of our vehicles double and triple-checking the terrain such as ruts with stainless avalanche poles or monopods for depth because we don’t want to drive our vehicle into a Hokkaido Wildlife Waterhole. Once I have started down the path to the Ezo sika deer, I check participants again to make sure everyone is ready to join the adventure with no cold feet, as I have to be 100% sure there are no question marks in my head about anyone, so there are no omens on the path to hinder our adventurous spirit.

In 2020, the road into photograph the herd was blocked by a vehicle stuck squarely in the middle of the road; the driver tried to ram through the snow in a station wagon 4×4, but, unfortunately for him and his partner, the snow was wet and heavily packed, not powdery. As a result, the station wagon occupants needed to wait until Hokkaido’s capable volunteer road emergency response crew arrived to tow them to safety. Sadly for us, there was not enough room to pass them safely in our Prado 4×4. Also, I wanted to pull out the stuck vehicle with my Prado, but the undercarriage of their vehicle was stuck on ice, and if I pulled them out, I probably would have ripped their vehicle’s muffler off or worse. And by the time the tow truck showed up and removed the vehicle, it was too late in the day to risk a 5 km ride to the Ezo sika deer on a rough, technical drive on a thin parcel of land about 30 yards (28 meters) wide in spots right on the pacific coastline. I had already witnessed an omen about road conditions this day and what the 5km drive-in would be like on this snowy Hokkaido day, so I thought better of risking a late departure. Also, the high tide was coming in, and there are a few locations where I have to drive on ice to reach the site where the Ezo sika deer herd gather, so in 2020 my clients and I missed photographing and visiting with the herd.

Everyone enjoys a good adventure story, but not all people who live in Hokkaido are adventurers. My experiences growing up in a wilderness town in northern Canada and traveling the world have provided the skillset for me to appreciate and be humbled in the wild frontiers. I was naturally drawn to the lifestyle in the wild frontiers of Hokkaido, and many of my colleagues and friends consider me a Hokkaido local for life. Canada and my first trip to polar bear country were at age four, and I can still recount that experience. Also, my family went on month-long canoe trips that were only accessible by canoe or air and are still the same to this very day. Wilderness is a way of life for me; at age eight, I went on my first one month canoe trip, and even at that young age, I knew to respect and appreciate the true wilderness. One luxury I treasure and from time to time when I travel north is watching the bright evening sky filled with stars and the Northern lights dancing around; it fills me calm and awe. And I recall the same calm with my first encounter with the Hokkaido’s Ezo sika deer.

Imagine standing almost to face to face with the largest herd of Ezo sika deer on our planet, with camera in hand, on a Hokkaido Photography Workshop Tour. It’s pretty impressive, and the significant part about this unique photo op is that the locations where the deer appear are only known by us Hokkaido locals. Fewer know the exact timing when the herd gathers. And I know the perfect timing when they are assembled and positioned, so the Ezo deer will have no choice but to come straight at us. Behind the Ezo sika deer is the frozen Pacific Ocean, then open water; if they tried to go the way of the frozen ocean, they know it would lead to open water, and deers are no fools, so I know they will choose to pass by us. Once I stop our lead SUV about 100 yards (92 meters) from the deer, I make sure our other SUVs make a semi-circle to protect us just in case a few try to charge us, but Ezo sika deer are not big enough to jump over Prado SUVs. The parcel of land is about 30 yards (28 meters) wide, and the deer always stampede, equal parts a show of strength and defense given by their numbers. My goal for 2022 is to share a beautiful and charged Hokkaido Photo Safari with as many clients and friends who feel they rise to the challenge of Hokkaido’s wildlife. We have space available for my 2022 Hokkaido Photography Workshop Tour, including Mt. Fuji, Snow Monkeys, the Red-Crowned Cranes, the Steller’s Sea Eagles, White-tailed Eagles, the Shima Enaga, and the Ezo red fox, plus much more.

Articles spanning cross-country in Japan lead to cross-country research for Blain Harasymiw (Hair-some-you) and Matthew Diaz. Every time we read about Japan’s wildlife, we want to read more, and some material even takes us intellectually off-roading. If you’re curious to read more about Japan and its fantastic wildlife, make sure to check out the: blaininjapan.com or japandreamscapes.com newsletter section for a lot of excellent reads!

April 2021

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Blain Harasymiw

See all articles by Blain Harasymiw

Who better to write about Blain, then his sister. Blain grew up in a wilderness town in northern Canada. Summers were short, yet filled with fun and excitement. His first trip to polar bear country was at age four, and he can still recount that experience. Also, our family went on month-long canoe trips that were only accessible by canoe or air and is still the same to this very day. Wilderness is a way of life for us, and everyone did their part as survival depended on it. At eight, Blain went on his first canoe trip, and even at that young age, he knew to respect and appreciate true wilderness. Our luxury was watching the bright evening sky filled with stars and the Borealis dancing around us. Our camera gear was light and compact, and our mother custom made watertight cases to ensure our memories were kept safe. Film was even more safeguarded. I can still envision the 70′ (21 meters) escarpment that we climbed with our supplies and three canoes to bypass the cascading waterfalls mere feet away. On another trip, we came across a beaver dam like none we had ever seen. The river disappeared, and we were in a boundless lake of entwined forest. Blain was so eager to investigate, yet at age ten we took caution, and he stayed in the canoe. Years later, where is Blain? He's on the front page of a national newspaper for canoeing. This was no ordinary canoeing; this was early spring canoeing. Bystanders on shore thought he was stuck in an ice jam. I know my brother well, and the reporter's pictures confirmed that he simply walked off the ice pulling the canoe. Blain is one of the few that I would trust in a canoe or on a wilderness adventure. In Blain’s late teens we spent many summers together adventuring waterways that few maps could tell us what lies ahead. A few years later he took those adventures to new heights and with a camera in one hand and ambition in the other he set off to the Canadian Rockies to make his mark. This is where he met his wife, Manami. His stories of the outback and mountain climbing came to life when he sent me the first of many photos. As time passed Blain’s passion turned towards becoming a professional photographer, and to no surprise a few years later he was offered a position in an acclaimed Japanese photography company. For more than 20 years, Blain has called Japan home. His photography assignments have taken him to remarkable places throughout the world, and many of his photos were published in magazines, books and displayed on billboards. Now as a freelance photographer and with a busy schedule, Blain and Manami always find the time to take me on non stop adventures when in Japan. Imagine hiking through thick brush and forest, no trails, no markings, what incredible fun! Then it appears in all its glory; Mt Fuji. With me, Blain takes no beaten path. Blain’s wild spirit can find adventure anywhere; just around the corner of his home or up to the highest accessible regions of Japan. To experience the true beauty of a country, as a photographer or simply wanting to take in the sites, a professional photographer is the way to do it and my brother Blain will truly deliver to you a new perspective of Japan like no other.