Journeys in Japan

Akan, in eastern Hokkaido, is renowned for its breathtaking winter landscape with majestic volcanic mountains and ice-blanketed lake. The area is home to an indigenous Ainu community, which has long protected its distinctive traditions and culture. Kit Nagamura gets to know some local Ainu people and discovers their deep ties to the natural world.

Through the generations, Hokkaido has been home to people from diverse backgrounds, who have developed their livelihoods and established distinctive cultures in each area. Confronting the harsh natural environment of this vast northern island, the inhabitants have poured their feelings — joy, anxiety, prayers and wishes — into songs that are cherished to the present day. Those songs continue to bring local communities together through shared memories and values. 

On this edition of Journeys in Japan, British photographer Alfie Goodrich visits areas of Hokkaido that are home to the following songs: Esashi Oiwake, Soran Bushi, Tokachi Uma-uta, Hokkai Bon-uta and the Upopo songs of the Ainu people. Through this soundscape so deeply rooted in each community, he explores Hokkaido's history, culture and local traditions.

Dean Newcombe discovers Kushimoto, the southernmost town on Japan's main island. Thanks to the warm Kuroshio Current that flows northward in the Pacific, the town is blessed with a warm climate and a bountiful sea that supports a diverse ecosystem. It is home to a significant number of seafood species and a thriving fishing industry. He checks out bluefin tuna aquaculture and a boat festival, gets close to sea turtles and kayaks out to sea to take in stunning rock formations.