Hokkaido: Japan's Last Frontier

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Winter holds fast to the corrugated slopes of Hokkaido's Mount Yotei even as spring unfurls below.
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A wreath of land enables Hokkaido to rival the nation's most fertile regions in rice production and surpass them in dairying,...
Large paddies invite mechanized planting, three times faster than traditional hand-planting techniques.
Home and haven for a tiny fishing village, Kojima, or Little Island, rides the sea like a factory ship. Kelp, a prime summer ...
Where beef is a treat, fish is a staple that keeps much of Hokkaido's huge fleet busy year round. Hauls by small family-owned...
A widespread artificial-hatchery system helps ensure future stocks.
Draft horse racing in Hokkaido. There are racetracks and off-track betting centers in most major urban areas. Many Japenese...
Three-year vigil continued for Mrs. Mitsuko Iazawa, far left, whose husband was imprisoned in the Soviet Union for illegal fi...
Snow worshipers search Mount Asahi, the island's hightest peak, for strips of unmelted snow in June - earning the title ski-k...
Damming thermal streams with makeshift rock wall, hikers enjoy what amounts to a birthright for every Japanese: a hot bath, w...
Push-button affluence came last to Hokkaido of Japan's four main islands. But it has arrived, as these dispensers indicate.
In company baths miners soap and rinse, as Japanese etiquette demands, before soaking in hot water pools.
Day in darkness ends for mine workers emerging from a shift in the Ishikari coalfield, Hokkaido's largest.
Horses in the snow.
Body language expresses affection between Jack, a stag, and animal writer Masanori Hata, who raised the Ezo deer at his Anima...
Residents, native to the island and dwindling in population, include Ezo red foxes, an Ezo Brown bear, and hardy little ponies.
While his work with indigenous island species continues at the isolated Animal Kingdom, Hata-san lives in a newly built log h...
Best part of the school week is three hours of instruction, by classroom teachers, on one of the many dozen ski slopes that m...
Anchor between Hokkaido and the rest of Japan, the port of Hakodate handles a constant stream of ferries to and from Honshu.
To many Japanese, Hokkaido is not quite Japan, and in fact island styles like nontraditional chimneyed houses reflect adaptat...
A youngster starts salmon fry on their way to the sea in Sapporo's Salmon Baby Festival, an event that reintroduced the fish ...
A youngster starts salmon fry on their way to the sea in Sapporo's Salmon Baby Festival, an event that reintroduced the fish ...
Anglers fish in a thermal stream in Daisetsuzan National Park. Hokkaido, Japan.
Hokkaido is Japan's center for raising cattle and horses including thoroughbred race horses.
Volcanic steam vents in Disetsuzan National Park, Hokkiado, Japan
Two climbers hike near a volcanic steam vent in the snow on Mt Asahidake. Daisetsuzan National Park, Hokkaido, Japan
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A skier in Furano, Hokkaido, Japan.
A children's ski class in Furano, Hokkaido, Japan.
Childrens ski class in Furano, Hokkaido, Japan.
Shiretoko, Hokkaidom Prefecture, Japan
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