Biei
Biei is a farming town in the hills of central Hokkaido, between Asahikawa and Furano, where fields of wheat, potato and buckwheat are laid over rolling land beneath the volcanic Tokachi mountains.
The patchwork hills of Biei
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Journeys
- One includes Biei
overview
Fields drawn in long curves over the hills, and a pond the colour of the sky.
Biei is a town of fewer than ten thousand people and a great deal of land. Its name comes from an Ainu word for the cloudy, mineral water of its river, and its farms were cleared by settlers in the last years of the nineteenth century. What they made, without intending to, is one of the most photographed landscapes in Japan: hills planted in strips of different crops, so that each slope is a different colour, with a single tree or a line of larch standing on the crest.
It was a photographer who first showed the country what was here. Shinzo Maeda came in the 1970s and spent years on these hills, and his pictures, and the television advertisements that followed, made celebrities of individual trees. The fields are working farms and are privately owned, so the way to see them is by car along the two scenic routes, the Patchwork Road to the north-west of the town and the Panorama Road to the south-east, stopping at the viewpoints the town has made for the purpose.
To the south-east the farmland gives way to forest and the Tokachi range, part of Daisetsuzan National Park. Here, at the foot of the mountains, are Shirogane Onsen, the Blue Pond and Shirahige Falls, where the water runs a startling blue. Biei is a place to travel slowly, by car with a driver who knows the lanes, and to come back each evening to an onsen in the forest.
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see and do
What to see in Biei
The Patchwork Road
A winding route through the hills north-west of the town, past trees made famous by advertising: the Ken and Mary Tree, a tall poplar named for a Nissan Skyline commercial of 1972, the Seven Stars Tree from a cigarette packet of 1976, and the Parent and Child Trees, three oaks standing together on a ridge.
The Panorama Road
The southern loop of hills, wider and higher, with long views over the fields to the Tokachi mountains. Its viewpoints include Shinei-no-oka, a hilltop known for the evening light across the farmland.
Shirogane Blue Pond
A pond in a wood of larch and birch, formed in the 1990s behind an embankment on the Biei River. Minerals carried from the springs of Shirogane colour the water a milky turquoise, and the dead trees standing in it give it a strange stillness.
Shirahige Falls
At Shirogane Onsen, water that has travelled underground from the mountains spills out of the face of a cliff in fine white threads into the Biei River, which runs blue beneath it. It is seen from the Blue River Bridge above.
Shirogane Onsen
A small onsen village at the foot of the Tokachi range, at the end of the road into the mountains, its springs the source of the colour of the Blue Pond and the river below.
Takushinkan
The gallery of Shinzo Maeda, opened in 1987 among birch woods on the Panorama Road, where his large photographs of these hills in every kind of weather show how he saw them first.
Shikisai-no-oka
A hillside flower farm south of the town, planted in broad diagonal bands of colour that run down the slope towards the mountains, one of the gentlest walks in Biei.
Hokusei-no-oka
An observation park on the Patchwork Road with a pyramid-shaped viewing tower, from which the fields open in every direction with the Tokachi range across the south.
Biei Station
A small station building of the pale soft stone quarried nearby, the starting point of the town and a fine example of the stone buildings that dot the farmland.
experiences
The best of Biei
The hills with a driver who knows them
A day on the Patchwork and Panorama roads in a private car, stopping at the viewpoints and the trees, with a driver who knows which lanes are public and where the light falls in the afternoon.
An evening in the forest
The stays most worth the journey in Biei are in the woods outside the town, ryokan whose rooms have their own open-air onsen, where the evening is spent in the water among the trees and dinner is a long kaiseki of Hokkaido produce.
The produce of the farms
Biei is known for its wheat, its potatoes and its milk, and a lunch in the farmland, of bread baked from Biei flour or a curry of Biei vegetables, is one of the pleasures of the day.
Furano in the same journey
Half an hour to the south, the lavender and flower farms of Furano make an easy afternoon, and the two together are the heart of central Hokkaido.
plan your visit
Biei on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- Two nights is the right stay in Biei: a day for the hills and the Blue Pond, and time for Furano or Asahikawa before moving on.
- Getting there
- By air from Tokyo Haneda to Asahikawa Airport in about an hour and forty minutes, and from there about twenty minutes by car to Biei. From Sapporo, about two and a half hours by car, or by limited express to Asahikawa in about ninety minutes and a short drive on.
where to stay
Luxury hotels and ryokan in Biei
The most rewarding place to stay is in the forest on the edge of the farmland, where a ryokan can give every room its own open-air onsen and keep the woods close outside the glass. The ryokan we choose is such a place, set among the trees, with Hokkaido produce at its table and the hills and the Blue Pond a short drive away.
Shirogane Onsen, at the foot of the mountains, has simpler onsen inns, and Furano, half an hour south, has larger resort hotels. For a guest who wants the farmland and the forest together, Biei itself is the better base.
journeys
Tours of Japan that include Biei
Each journey below includes Biei; choose one to see its route, dates and price. For a journey on your own dates, the Custom Tour of Japan can include Biei and anywhere else you would like to go.
questions
Biei: questions answered
How many days do you need in Biei?
Two nights is right for most travellers: one full day for the Patchwork Road, the Panorama Road and the Blue Pond, and time for Furano nearby.
How do you get to Biei?
Fly to Asahikawa Airport, about twenty minutes from Biei by car. From Sapporo, take the limited express to Asahikawa, about ninety minutes, then drive or take the Furano Line, or drive the whole way in about two and a half hours.
Why is the Blue Pond in Biei blue?
Minerals from the springs of Shirogane, chiefly aluminium, are carried into the water and scatter the light so that it looks turquoise. The colour shifts with the weather and the light.
Can you walk in the fields at Biei?
No. The fields are private working farms and walking into them damages the crops, so the hills are seen from the roads and from the viewpoints the town has made, such as Hokusei-no-oka and Shinei-no-oka.
How far is Biei from Furano?
About half an hour by car, and the two are usually seen together on the same stay.
What is Biei famous for?
Its patchwork hills of crops, the single trees made famous by advertisements, the photographs of Shinzo Maeda, and the Blue Pond and Shirahige Falls at Shirogane.
Which Luxury Japan Travel journeys include Biei?
The Summer Tour of Hokkaido includes nights in Biei. The Custom Tour of Japan can include Biei on any dates, created around your party alone.
Can Biei be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with a Tour Director beside you, and it can include Biei. For independent travel, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Every place in Hokkaido
Biei, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Biei. We will answer with a journey shaped around it: one of our tours, a journey of The Private Collection, or a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone.