Shiretoko

Drift ice crowds the Shiretoko Peninsula each winter — the northern hemisphere's lowest latitude for seasonal sea ice — and its melt triggers plankton blooms that feed everything from salmon to whales. On this remote finger of north-east Hokkaido, brown bears fish the rivers, Blakiston's fish owls haunt the forests and Steller's sea lions patrol the coast, a rare unbroken chain linking sea and land. UNESCO inscribed Shiretoko as natural World Heritage in 2005.