A whistle pierces the crisp morningair. Wheels slip in the freshly fallen snow as the SL Fuyu-no-Shitsugengo train leaves Kushiro station in a cloud of thick smoke. This is the best way to enter the snow-covered marshes, the land of the crane.

In winter, Kushiro, an otherwise uninspiring coastal town on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, is transformed into a wonderland. Kushiro Shitsugen National Park is the largest wetlands in Japan and the biggest area in which cars are prohibited. Rare red-crowned cranes inhabit the wetlands and there is no better time to see them than when the ground is covered in snow. In the first three months of the year Japan Rail runs a regular steam special through the marsh to Shibecha.

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