Kushiro Shitsugen Art Museum

This museum near the Akan International Crane Center opened in 2013, the centenary year of painter Sasaki Eisho (1913-2012). Sasaki spent his life in eastern Hokkaido and drew from the wetlands and wildlife around him, working in oil, watercolor, drawing, and fish prints. His recurring theme was the biological life of the region, rendered with the kind of attention that comes from decades of fishing and walking the same landscapes. The museum holds around 600 works, with a permanent collection and rotating special exhibitions changed twice yearly. Wild red-crowned cranes gather in the surrounding fields during winter, visible from the museum windows.