When my buddy Ben Cranke invited me to join him on his Japan trip, I did not doubt for a second! He knew where we needed to be since he’d already spent a month in Hokkaïdo. The plan was to start with the snow macaques in Jigokudani and then fly to the island north of Honshu, Hokkaïdo. That’s the place to be to photograph red-crowned cranes, whooper swans and white-tailed and Steller’s eagles.