# Tsurui and Kushiro — red-crowned cranes dancing in the snow beside Japan’s largest marsh, in eastern Hokkaidō

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Last reviewed: 30 October 2026

- **Where:** Tsurui village and the Kushiro marsh, eastern Hokkaidō, Japan
- **Coordinates:** 43.15° N, 144.43° E (Ramsar site record)
- **The marsh:** Japan’s first Ramsar site, 17 June 1980
- **Cranes in Japan:** At least 1,800, (Wild Bird Society of Japan)
- **Sanctuary:** Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary, opened 1987; entry free
- **Best visited:** Late November to mid-March, (Wild Bird Society of Japan)
- **Advisory:** Japan Level 1

## The short answer

Tsurui is a village of dairy farms on the north-western edge of the Kushiro marsh, Kushiro-shitsugen, in eastern Hokkaidō, which the Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ) describes as the largest wetland remaining in Japan. It is the winter gathering place of the red-crowned crane, tanchō in Japanese, which a Japan Tourism Agency text written for Kushiro City calls the only resident crane species that breeds in Japan: the cranes of eastern Hokkaidō stay in the region all year, while those on the Eurasian continent migrate. In winter they gather at feeding grounds, the best known of them the society’s Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary, where corn is put out from November to March. The society gives late November to mid-March as the best time to see the cranes there, and says they rarely come near the viewing area from April to October. The marsh became Japan’s first Ramsar site on 17 June 1980 and a national park on 31 July 1987.

## Why it's worth knowing

A bird that came back from the record books. The red-crowned crane was found widely in Japan in the Edo period (1603–1867), the Japan Tourism Agency’s texts for Kushiro say, but hunting and the loss of its habitat reduced it, and by the early twentieth century the resident population was thought to be extinct. The texts disagree by a year about the rediscovery. One, written for Kushiro City, says a group of some ten cranes was found living in the Kushiro wetlands in 1924; the other, written for the city’s marsh observatory, says ten birds were discovered there in 1925. The Wild Bird Society of Japan gives 1924. Numbers rose with winter feeding and conservation work to more than 1,000 by 2006, the observatory text says, and to around 1,800 by the city’s; the society says the present population is not known exactly but is at least 1,800. The observatory text puts the world population at 2,750 birds, in eastern Siberia, north-eastern China and eastern Hokkaidō. In Japan the crane is protected as a Special Natural Monument.

Fed through the winter by its neighbours. In winter most of eastern Hokkaidō lies under snow and ice, and the society says the cranes survived around the Kushiro marsh because some streams, fed by springs, stay free of ice. People have fed them since the 1950s, in the society’s account. Its sanctuary grew out of that habit. In 1986 a working group of conservation specialists and ornithologists from Japan and abroad recommended a sanctuary in the village of Tsurui, and Yoshitaka Ito, a dairy farmer who had been one of the cranes’ designated carers and fed them, agreed to have it on his property; the society established it in 1987. At Tsurumidai, another feeding ground about 7 km away, the society says the feeding was begun by the pupils of an elementary school that stood on the site, and was carried on after the school closed by Mr and Mrs Watanabe of a nearby dairy farm.

## The field notes

### A dance that starts in the snow

Courtship takes place around February, according to the Japan Tourism Agency’s text for the Kushiro City marsh observatory: pairs raise their heads in unison, open their wings and leap into the air while calling, and many bird enthusiasts come to the snow-covered fields around Kushiro to watch. Around mid-March the pairs build nests of withered reeds out in the marsh; two eggs are usually laid between March and April, and the chicks hatch in May. The young fly by about their hundredth day, the same text says, but the red patch on the head does not appear until a bird is around two years old. The Wild Bird Society of Japan gives an adult’s height as 140 to 150 cm and its wingspan as 220 to 240 cm, says the bare red skin on the crown brightens when a bird is excited, and records that the Ainu, the Indigenous people of Hokkaidō, called the crane saruronkamui, the god of the wetland. Kushiro’s official tourism site notes the cranes’ territorial disputes in October and their calling together in November.

### Dawn at Otowa Bridge

The society calls Otowa Bridge, about 7 km from the sanctuary, the only place where people can watch the cranes at their roost. From mid-October to late March a flock of up to about 200 cranes sleeps in the river some 200 metres downstream of the bridge. On cold mornings the trees along the river are covered in frost and steam rises from the water, which glows pink in the first light; the cranes take off some time after sunrise, some of them flying straight over the people watching. The society says photographers from around the world gather there before dawn, in temperatures of minus 20°C or below, and that there is a footbridge built for them, with car parks and a public toilet but no kiosk or visitor centre.

### Feeding grounds and a reserve

The Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary covers about 13 hectares, bordered to the north and east by the Setsuri River and its woods of Japanese oak and willow, with a dairy farm to the south. In winter part of the pasture becomes the feeding station, and the society says more than 300 cranes may be seen there at one time in the peak season, close up across a wooden fence. The viewing area has no shelter, but a nature centre overlooking the feeding station has a heated observation room with telescopes and binoculars. At Tsurumidai, beside the main tourist road north from Kushiro, up to about 300 cranes may gather at feeding time from mid-December to January, the society says, with feeding at about 9:00. The city’s Kushiro Akan International Crane Center, known as GRUS, keeps cranes in outdoor enclosures all year, and from November to March about 200 wild cranes come to a field nearby where staff put out food, according to the Japan Tourism Agency’s text for the centre. At the Kushiro Crane Reserve, an observation and breeding centre, pairs and their young live year-round in a 7-hectare enclosure built in the wetland, and chicks can be seen in May.

### Eagles, owls and a marsh once called barren

The society says about 165 bird species have been recorded in the village of Tsurui and about 230 in the city of Kushiro. Steller’s sea eagles, which breed around the Sea of Okhotsk, winter in the area and are best seen from December to February, often alongside white-tailed eagles, of which more than 150 pairs breed in Hokkaidō. A Japan Tourism Agency text for Kushiro names seven endangered bird species of the region protected as Natural Monuments, including Blakiston’s fish owl, which it describes as one of the world’s largest owls. The marsh itself, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment says, was long regarded as useless land; post-war farming, the growth of towns and the logging of the hills dried parts of it, until local researchers and conservation groups changed how its value was seen. It became Japan’s first marsh designated as a Ramsar site in 1980, and the national park of 1987, covering 28,788 hectares, was the first in Japan centred on a marsh. The Ramsar record notes that the site is adjacent to where the convention’s fifth conference of the parties met in 1993.

**The Relic**

A scoop of feed corn at the Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary. From November to March the Wild Bird Society of Japan puts out corn grown for livestock on a pasture at the sanctuary, a winter feeding that the society says has gone on since the 1950s, on land that belonged to the dairy farmer Yoshitaka Ito. A Japan Tourism Agency text for Kushiro City credits winter feeding and conservation programmes with raising Japan’s cranes from a group of some ten, found in 1924, to around 1,800.

## Getting there

How to get there. The nearest airport is Kushiro, which the Wild Bird Society of Japan calls Kushiro Tancho Airport. The society gives the drive from the airport to the Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary as about 50 minutes on one page and about 40 minutes by taxi on another, and Kushiro’s official tourism site gives about 40 minutes by car; from JR Kushiro Station it is about 50 minutes by taxi. By public transport, take the airport bus to JR Kushiro Station, then an Akan Bus service towards Tsurui and get off at the “Tsurui shigai” stop; the society’s directions give a 10-minute walk from there, and its sanctuary page about 20 minutes from the nearest stop. Tsurumidai and Otowa Bridge are each about 7 km from the sanctuary, and about 2.5 km apart, a 30-minute walk.

When to go. The society gives late November to mid-March as the best time at the sanctuary and December to February as the best season in Tsurui; feeding starts in mid- to late November and continues until late March. From April to October the cranes are out in the marsh and meadows in pairs, best seen from June to August by the society’s account, and rarely come near the sanctuary’s viewing area. The roost at Otowa Bridge is used from mid-October to late March. Steller’s sea eagles are present from December to February.

What to arrange ahead. The sanctuary’s viewing area is open to the public at any time of year, and admission is free. Its nature centre opens from October to March, 9:00 to 16:00, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays except national holidays and from 26 December to 1 January; rangers there answer questions, and hot drinks are offered for a 100-yen donation. Guided crane tours exist: the national parks website run by the Japan National Tourism Organization lists one by the Toro Nature Center, about three hours in winter and two in summer, for at least two people.

Access. At the sanctuary the cranes are watched from outdoors across a fence, with no shelter but a public toilet; the nature centre’s observation room is heated. At Shimokuchoro, a dairy district on the marsh’s northern edge, the society says young cranes can be watched from a car, and asks visitors not to disturb the area’s traffic and farm work.

Safety. The US State Department has Japan at Level 1, exercise normal precautions (advisory dated 15 May 2025). The main hazard here is the cold: the society’s figure for dawn at Otowa Bridge is minus 20°C or below. The Japan Meteorological Agency publishes forecasts and weather warnings for eastern Hokkaidō.

## Common questions

#### When is the best time to see red-crowned cranes at Tsurui?

The Wild Bird Society of Japan gives late November to mid-March as the best time to see red-crowned cranes at its Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary in eastern Hokkaidō, with feeding running from mid- to late November until late March. The society says the cranes rarely come near the sanctuary’s viewing area from April to October.

#### How do you get to the Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary?

The Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary is about 40 to 50 minutes by car from Kushiro’s airport, by the Wild Bird Society of Japan’s and Kushiro tourism’s figures, and about 50 minutes by taxi from JR Kushiro Station. By bus, take an Akan Bus service from Kushiro Station towards Tsurui and walk from the “Tsurui shigai” stop.

#### How many red-crowned cranes are there in Japan?

The Wild Bird Society of Japan says the Japanese population of red-crowned cranes is at least 1,800 birds, all in Hokkaidō, and a Japan Tourism Agency text for Kushiro City gives around 1,800. A group of about ten had been found in the Kushiro marsh in 1924, after the species was thought extinct in Japan.

#### Where can you see the cranes roosting near Kushiro?

Otowa Bridge, about 7 km from the Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary, is the place the Wild Bird Society of Japan names for watching red-crowned cranes at their roost: up to about 200 cranes sleep some 200 metres downstream from mid-October to late March, and photographers gather before dawn in temperatures of minus 20°C or below.

#### Is the Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary free to visit?

Yes. Admission to the Wild Bird Society of Japan’s Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary is free, and the viewing area is open all year. Its nature centre opens from October to March, 9:00 to 16:00, and closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (except national holidays) and from 26 December to 1 January.

#### What is the Kushiro marsh?

The Kushiro marsh, Kushiro-shitsugen in eastern Hokkaidō, is the largest wetland remaining in Japan, the Wild Bird Society of Japan says, at about 180 square kilometres. It became Japan’s first Ramsar site on 17 June 1980, and Kushiroshitsugen National Park, covering 28,788 hectares, was designated on 31 July 1987.

#### Why are the cranes at Tsurui fed in winter?

Most of eastern Hokkaidō is under snow and ice in winter, and the Wild Bird Society of Japan says the red-crowned cranes survived around the Kushiro marsh on streams kept free of ice by springs. Feeding has gone on since the 1950s, and the society puts out livestock corn at Tsurui from November to March.

#### What other birds can you see around Kushiro in winter?

The Wild Bird Society of Japan names Steller’s sea eagles, best seen around Tsurui and the Kushiro marsh from December to February, and white-tailed eagles, of which more than 150 pairs breed in Hokkaidō. A Japan Tourism Agency text for Kushiro adds Blakiston’s fish owl as a resident of the region.

## Related places

Jigokudani Monkey Parkboth tagged wildlife · same region
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Bosque del Apacheboth tagged birdwatching · same access level (1)
Doñanaboth tagged birdwatching · same access level (1)
Mount Fujisame region · same access level (1)

Notes on sources. The Wild Bird Society of Japan’s English pages for the Tsurui-Ito Tancho Sanctuary (mobile.wbsj.org/en/tsurui/), read directly on 29 October 2026, supplied: from the sanctuary page, the best season, the feeding period, the April-to-October note, the history from the 1986 working group and Yoshitaka Ito to the 1987 opening, the drive from the airport and the bus time from Kushiro, the 13 hectares, the Setsuri River, the more than 300 cranes, the fence, the shelter and toilet, the nature centre’s seasons, hours, closing days, free admission and donation, the corn and the feeding since the 1950s, the spring-fed streams and the society’s reserves; from its Birds and Birding page, the 165 and 230 species, the crane’s size, red crown and Ainu name, the 1924 rediscovery, the “at least 1800” population, the seasons by place, the feeding grounds, Tsurumidai and the Watanabe family, Otowa Bridge, Shimokuchoro, Onnenai and the eagles; from its wetland page, the largest remaining wetland, about 180 km², and the dates 1967, 1980 and 1987; and from its How to get here page, the taxi and bus directions. Kushiro’s official tourism site (en.kushiro-lakeakan.com, Tsurui/Itoh Tancho Sanctuary) supplied the 40 minutes from the airport and the October and November behaviour. The Japan Tourism Agency’s multilingual commentary database (mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db), read the same day, supplied: “The Japanese Crane” (R2-00607, Kushiro City), with the only-resident-crane line, the 1924 group of about ten and the population of around 1,800; “A Year in the Life of a Red-Crowned Crane” (H30-00082, Kushiro City Wetland Observatory), with the 2,750 world population, the 1925 date, the more than 1,000 by 2006, and the courtship, nesting and growth; “Endangered Bird Species within Kushiro” (R2-00574), with the seven Natural Monument species and Blakiston’s fish owl; and the texts for the Kushiro Crane Reserve (H30-00088) and the Kushiro Akan International Crane Center (H30-00090). The Ministry of the Environment’s English press kit for Kushiroshitsugen National Park (env.go.jp PDF) supplied the park’s designation date and area, the Special Natural Monument status and the history of the marsh’s reputation. The Ramsar Sites Information Service record for Kushiro-shitsugen (site 205) supplied the designation date, area, coordinates, the Japanese Crane line and the 1993 conference. The national parks website of the Japan National Tourism Organization supplied the Toro Nature Center tour. The US State Department’s advisory feed supplied Japan’s level and date. Not read: the Japanese-language pages of Tsurui village and the Ministry’s crane census, so no year-by-year count is given; the sources’ two dates for the rediscovery (1924 and 1925) are both reported. Checked 29 October 2026. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey.com. Last reviewed 30 October 2026.