Photo spot in Sapporo
Biei: the Blue Pond and the patchwork hills
A pond of unreal blue among drowned larches and rolling hills striped with crops — Hokkaido's countryside, a day trip from Sapporo.
About Biei: the Blue Pond and the patchwork hills
Get directionsBiei lies in central Hokkaido, a long day trip from Sapporo and closer to Asahikawa. The Blue Pond at Shirogane is its most famous sight — water of a startling milky blue, with dead larch trunks standing in it — and the hills around the town are a patchwork of fields, lone trees and long views to the mountains. Furano's lavender fields are nearby in July.
The hills give the space and colour of the open countryside: striped fields in summer, gold in autumn, pure white in winter.
The famous single trees and the fields around them are working farmland. Farmers have asked visitors to stay off them, and at least one well-known tree was cut down after years of trespass: shoot from the roads and lay-bys, never in the crops. The Blue Pond is busiest at midday; early morning is calm and the colour holds.
Best time to shoot
Early morning; July for lavender, winter for snow
Tips
Stay on roads and lay-bys — the fields are farmland, not parks. Plan it as a full day with a car or a tour; it is too far for a short session.
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Photographers who shoot at Biei: the Blue Pond and the patchwork hills
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Other spots in Sapporo
The Otaru Canal
Stone warehouses and gas lamps along an old harbour canal half an hour from Sapporo — softest at blue hour and lovely under snow.
Odori Park and the TV Tower
A long green boulevard through central Sapporo with the TV Tower at one end — lilacs in spring, beer gardens in summer, snow and lights in winter.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Biei: the Blue Pond and the patchwork hills — free of charge.
