A travel day today with an 8.30 am departure from our hotel in Sōunkyō on our way to Kushiro, the last port of call on the Hokkaidō Horizons art tour for 2018.

We drove through some awe inspiring scenery and even saw a bear and some deer as well as snow-covered mountains and lots of clear rivers and streams.

Flowers too, when we stopped for a break.  These are miniature chrysanthemums (according to our on-board botanist, Graham):

Lunch was at the Ainu village at Lake Akan for a chance to see something (albeit very touristy) of the indigenous culture of Hokkaidō (or “Ezo” in the native tongue).

Before reaching Kushiro, we stopped at the Crane Reserve near the airport for an hour to see the red-capped cranes that are a national symbol of Japan (and the emblem that adorns the tail of all JAL aircraft).  They are only found in this part of Hokkaidō and come from Siberia, China and North Korea, which makes their relevance to Japanese culture as mysterious as everything else in this remarkable country.

OK.  Who can spot the baby crane in this second photo?  You are allowed to enlarge it with your fingers on the screen (for you iPad readers) and the little brown thing to the right of Mummy crane is the … mmm, what is the correct word for a baby 鶴?

Last painting day tomorrow in the Kushiro wetlands.