Wild Japan

Beyond the metropolis of Tokyo is a Japan that only a few know. A wild, natural country with no crowds, high-speed trains and skyscrapers. Macaques live in the Japanese Alps on the main island of Honshu. No other species of monkey has ventured as far into the cold north as it has. In deep snow, foraging is difficult for them - but there is always time for small snowball fights. A hot bath is then taken to warm up: the monkeys relax in hot thermal springs for several hours a day. It hisses and steams on the surface everywhere in Japan, and earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis occur again and again. The island of Hokkaido is in the far north. While winter is slowly says goodbye to Honshu, Hokkaido still has Siberian temperatures. In this inhospitable time the rare red-crowned cranes begin their extravagant courtship dances, and giant eagles go fishing between the ice floes. The end of winter finally symbolizes the cherry blossom.

Kyushu is the southernmost main island of Japan. It has a subtropical climate. In the shadow of Sakurajima, one of the most active volcanoes in Japan, a special group of macaques lives on a small offshore island. The monkeys are known to collect mussels and other seafood from the rocks at low tide to feed on. Still further south in Japan is the tropical island of Okinawa. When the water pulls back at low tide, Okinawa's bizarre creatures emerge from the mud in the mangrove swamps: winkle crabs and mud jumpers are looking for food as well as hordes of army crabs. Far away from tropical swamps, little bear cubs learn more than 3,000 kilometers further north on the island of Hokkaido. While the warming autumn sun in the south transforms the maple forests into a golden and fire-red sea of ​​colors, the first frost freezes Hokkaido's nature. Only the piercing calls of the Whooper Swans still echo across the country.