Red crowned cranes perform a happy dance in Hokkaido, Japan - tancho tsuru in Japanese, are a National Treasure and have been a beloved symbol of longevity and love, luck, happiness and fidelity. The couple will mate for life. Courtship displays and shrill crying is thought to strengthen their bond and show excitement. They also seem to dance for the sheer fun of it.

Jennifer Ackerman wrote in National Geographic, “The Japanese have written the tancho into poems and folktales and myths. They have painted it and made statues and sculptures to it… From its habits they have drawn phrases and metaphors to describe their own behavior. They have imitated it and tried to dance as it dances. They have named streets and cities after it. They have folded it into tiny birds of paper and hung them carefully in colored festoons at temples and shrines… Most of all they have made it into an icon and put its image everywhere, so this extremely rare bird is, ironically, seen throughout Japan."