Arrive at the port town of Niigata, famous for snow, rice, sake and hot springs, and transfer to your hotel where our group will spend the first night of the expedition. This evening meet your fellow voyagers and expedition team over dinner at the hotel.

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel before exploring this bustling port town. This afternoon you will board your ship, settle into your cabin and familiarise yourself with Heritage Adventurer. Join the expedition team in the Observation Lounge and up on the Observation Deck as we set sail for Akita.

Nestled between mountains and the sea, Akita’s scenic beauty and festival capital status, preserved samurai village and museums boasting world-class art makes it perfect for connecting with Japan’s history and culture. This morning we will venture inland to the castle town of Kakunodate. While the castle no longer remains, this former samurai city’s Uchimachi samurai quarter maintains a number of the original, centuries old samurai houses. 

From our berth in Aomori we will travel inland to explore the spectacular Towada Hachimantai National Park and one of Japan’s most famous volcanic areas. Passing through the Kayano Plateau and Hakkoda Mountains to the scenic Oirase Valley and magnificent ancient caldera Lake Towada. We also plan to explore Oirase Gorge, running 14 kilometres from Lake Towada to Yakeyama it is considered one of Japan’s most beautiful rivers resplendent with crystal clear water, rapids, waterfalls and verdant wilderness-clad banks. 

Today we sail into the port of Hakodate, located at the southern tip of Hokkaido. Explore Onuma Park picturesque, islanddotted lakes and majestic dormant volcano, Mount Komagatake. In the afternoon,  enjoy a city tour including the enchanting Fort Goryokaku. This massive star-shaped citadel was built in the last years of the Edo Period, but repurposed now as a quirky public park boasting more than 1,000 cherry trees along its moats.

Adventures abound at Shikotsu-Toya National Park, named after its famous twin caldera lakes. Activities here could include riding the cable car to the top of Mount Usu to take in the grand scale views over Lake Toya or visiting the geothermal spectacle of steaming vents and sulphurous streams at Jigokudani aka ‘Hell Valley’. This afternoon enjoy free time to explore Muroran at your leisure, visit the scenic cape and lighthouse or take in the city from above after a walk up Mount Sokuryo.

Major fishing port city Kushiro is rightly famous for Kushiro Shitsugen, Japan’s largest marshland and national park home to Japan’s sacred Red-crowned Cranes (tancho). Two thousand species of flora and fauna are found in Kushiro Marsh, Japan’s largest peat swamp and wetland reserve. Exploring the marshland’s walking trails we hope to see the cranes in their natural habitat before visiting the Kushiro Crane Reserve to learn about its breeding programme and rehabilitation for sick and injured birds. This afternoon explore the architecturally striking Kushiro City Museum. Equally fascinating inside, discover Kushiro’s natural history and beauty of the indigenous Ainu culture.

This morning position yourself on the Observation Deck or in the Observation Lounge to enjoy views of the coastline and look for wildlife as we sail through the Nemuro Channel and around the Shiretoko Peninsula to Abashiri. This afternoon we plan to visit Lake Kussharo, a stunning tree-lined caldera lake, the largest in Akan Mashu National Park with a circumference of 57 kilometres. We also plan to visit Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park and its 10 hectares of flowering fields which turn vivid pink from May to early June during the park’s annual Shibazakura Festival. This evening we moor overnight in Abashiri.

We have a full day to explore Shiretoko, one of Japan’s most pristine national parks and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the diversity of its ecosystems. This remote and untouched park combines rivers, forests, mountains and waterfalls, and is home to 36 land and 22 marine mammal species, as well as 285 bird species, including Yezo brown bears and Blakiston’s fish owls. The peninsula’s volcanic landscapes are impressive and we hope to traverse the Shiretoko Pass with its stunning views of Mount Rausu, the highest point on the Shiretoko Peninsula and return via the spectacular 20-kilometre coastal stretch of wildflowers known as Koshimizu Gensei-kaen.

A former military post and penal colony, Korsakov serves as your gateway to Sakhalin Island’s capital, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Founded as a small Russian settlement in the 1880s, the city was a Japanese prefect capital from 1905 until the end of WWII. Visit a Russian Orthodox church, the Regional Museum—housed in an impressive former Japanese mansion—and the bustling market. Also enjoy a performance of traditional Cossack song and dance from a colorfully costumed local choir. Alternatively, join your ornithologist for a day of birding around the southern end of Sakhalin. Watch for Latham’s snipes, Eurasian bullfinches, white-tailed sea eagles, Siberian thrushes, and Swinhoe’s robins.

After clearing customs formalities in Wakkanai we will sail to the Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park and berth at Rebun Island. Also known as Japan’s ‘island of flowers’, we plan to explore Rebun Island, a scenic isle off the northwest tip of Hokkaido and treasure trove of natural beauty. Between late-April and mid-September, the “Floating Island of Flowers” is blanketed in fields of wildflowers, and your visit is timed to enjoy the blooms before the annual flood of tourists arrive.

This morning we will explore neighbouring Rishiri Island where the skyline is dominated by the dormant volcano of Mount Rishiri. Our tour of the island may include walking around manmade Himenuma Pond listening the to birdlife and taking in majestic Mount Rishiri and surrounding flora reflected in the pond’s surface, and Kutsugata Cape Park where we hope to see Japan’s famed Black Woodpecker and Long-tailed Tit exploring the forest walks. This afternoon we arrive at the tiny island of Teuri-Jima, part of the Shokanbetsu- Teuri-Yagishiri National Park and an important sanctuary for nesting seabirds including Common Murre and Black-tailed gulls. We will use our ship to sail by the cliffs and, if time permits, will launch the Zodiacs for a closer look.

This morning we arrive in Otaru, a port city in Hokkaido known for glassworks, music boxes, sake distilleries and the picturesque Otaru Canal flanked with shops and cafes. After breakfast there will be a complimentary coach to a central hotel or to the airport.