Hokkaido
Kushiro
Today we're off to Japan, and specifically Kushiro. Home of the Kushiro Shitsugen. Swamp apparently. Can't wait.
Looks like cloudy trouble ahead.
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Somewhere down there is Kunashir Island. Known for its Rat Snakes. Also one of the islands in the Northern Territories dispute between Russia and Japan.
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And there, as the clouds clear up, we have undisputed Japan. Hokkaido Island, Region and Prefecture. Known for its food, especially Uni if you're into that sort of thing.
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Right away you can see that this is not Siberia. Hokkaido is kind of a big chess board of lattice windbreaks. When they started clearing the land here in the 1890s someone had the genius idea of leaving a lattice work of trees to prevent wind erosion. Hokkaido is subject to dust storms blowing in from Asian deserts and there was even a dustbowl event in 1938. I'm sure the trees helped immensely. And it looks awesome from the air.
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The Kushiro Shitsugen. It is in fact a swamp.
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And here's Kushiro, known for its largely ice-free port and all around agreeable climate as compared to the Kurils just a little ways north. Our stop for today.
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Tomorrow it's off to Chitose.
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