Photo/Illutration An elevated 800-meter wooden path offers breathtaking views of the Shiretoko Renzan mountain range. Shiretoko is Japan’s 13th world heritage site and its third natural heritage site, following the Yakushima islands and Shirakami-sanchi mountain area. (Photo by Lisa Vogt）

Driving along the winding roads of Shiretoko, I found myself humming the tune to “Shiretoko Ryojo,” only remembering the lyrics to the first part, “Shiretoko no misaki ni ...” and the rest a string of “la la la la.”

I love Hokkaido and visit the island at least once a year. My fascination for the northernmost land burgeoned when I noticed that seemingly every old house in Japan I visited had a “kibori kuma,” a wooden carving of a brown bear holding a salmon in its mouth, and I was told it was a souvenir from Hokkaido.

I was somewhat dumbfounded when I learned that these bears were actually knock-offs of Swiss bear woodcarvings bought in Europe around 1922 by Yoshichika Tokugawa (1886-1976), the 19th head of the Owari Tokugawa family. He used them as models to promote woodcarving as a side business for the farmers.

Shiretoko has one of the highest concentrations of brown bears in the world. The bears have various dining options, from the peninsula’s coastal shores to alpine zones in the center. In the warmer months, they enjoy a buffet that includes butterbur, nettles, wild cherries, bee larvae and ant colonies. When the temperatures fall, they gorge on acorns and all-you-can-catch salmon.

In 2005, Shiretoko was granted the status of a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its vibrant ecosystem. It all starts with drift ice from Okhotsk carried by ocean currents to the Shiretoko Peninsula.

The ice provides a habitat for plankton, and these microscopic organisms form the base of the food chain as they are consumed by small marine creatures like shishamo capelin, which in turn become a food source for larger species like salmon, cod and flounder. Abundant fish attracts seabirds and marine mammals like seals and orcas.

On land, bears, with their ability to navigate both the marine and forest environments, bridge the two ecosystems. By foraging in the forests and consuming salmon from the sea, they fertilize the soil and spread marine-derived nutrients throughout the forest, benefiting plants and other animals that live there.

Everything--including the bears, Yezo sika deer, red foxes, Steller’s sea eagles and white-tailed eagles--is intertwined, forming a complex web of life.

“Why did the bear choose to live in Shiretoko? Because it couldn’t bear to be anywhere else!”

The harmonious interconnectedness of Shiretoko as well as our planet, is truly a treasure.

***

This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the August 20 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan," which depicts various parts of the country through the perspective of the author, a professor at Aoyama-gakuin University.

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