A nice weekend or daytrip from Sapporo towards the east of Hokkaido is the Furano-Biei area with some gorgeous natural scenery and local culture. One of the examples for a fascinating natural phenomenon is the over-commercialized Blue Pond near Biei. It’s basically a pond, which due to minerals dissolved in the water looks bright blue. Getting there isn’t easy, and you’ll probably arrive by joining some bus tour or you’ll time your schedule for an impossible 20-minute visit using the public bus coming in from Asahikawa. A much better way to arrive and explore Biei and Furano is getting your own set of wheels, either a motorcycle or a car. There’s lots to see and do in the area, and it’s nicer when you can take your time and stop whenever you want.
From very early in the morning, large groups on bus tours come in to take a look at this somewhat unique place, but aside from taking some photos and walking around there isn’t much to see or do. If you’ve never seen anything like it, it might be worth the trouble.
Here’s the blue pond on a gloomy typhoon weather…
Location:
Special? kind of. Worth it? up to you. More on Furano to follow soon…