Blue Pond, Hokkaido

A worthwhile day trip to visit if you are in Hokkaido!

Table of Contents

1 About
2 Best Time to See
3 What Makes the Blue Pond So...Blue?
4 Parking Lot
5 Explore the Area
6 Information

About

Hokkaido’s Shirogane Blue Pond (In Japanese: Aoi Ike 青い池) is one of the northern island’s most popular sightseeing destinations.
The place is located in Biei, Hokkaido. And the Biei River runs near this pond.
The cool color of blue cobalt blue, which can be said to be the biggest feature of this pond, is really impressive.

Best Time to See

The blue hue colors of the pond are depends on the time and weather, combined with the angle you see.
The best condition to see such a blue colors are summer days, which there is absence of wind and rain, and a clear, bright day.

In Winter for example, the sight of the pond being completely covered in pure white snow and it make it looks like a fairytale-like dreamscape.
Also, in winter they use to make an light up shows at night which makes it looks amazing!
In Autumn, the falls color behind the blue pond makes it with a beautiful autumns colors > The reflection of the fiery reds, oranges, and yellows of the surrounding forest on the pond’s surface is truly a magnificent sight to behold.

We visited there in August.
My dream was to take this magnificent blue colors with the green season. But, absolutely plan to visit there in different seasons!

The time during the day also influence on the blue colors of the pond:
On the left picture: the pond in 6am in the morning. The sun still didn`t came up, and the blue is a little bit faded.
On the right picture: we came back in 13 pm. the sun makes it shinny blue colors

The Pond at 6 am

The Pond at 13 pm

What Makes the Blue Pond So...Blue?

The Shirogane Blue Pond is a manmade phenomenon resulting from a construction of a dam on Biei River. This was needed because of the mudflow that poured out of active volcano Mount Tokachi during its 1988 eruption. The superb view attraction we know today is nothing more than an accidental consequence!

The reasons of the colors are thanks to the near onsen, Shirogane Onsen has mixed with water . Which means that the aluminum that includes in the onsen dispersed within the water. These floating particles catch the rays of the sun and send off short, easily scattered wavelengths which are intercepted by our eyes as the color blue.

Clear blue water of the pond

Parking Lot

There is a big parking lot of around 100 spaces for cars. When we visited there it was free parking. But recently, they started to make it with fee – about 500 yen for a car.
We visit there with a car, and it was easy to get there. In the noon it was really crowded but wasn`t problem to find a place to park. If you want to avoid the overcrowding time, the early morning is the answer for you.
For you with no car, There is also option to go there by bus. But, I think it less comfortable because the buses run only in a few times a day and need to check for the time schedule of the season you want to visit.
In general, I really recommend to visit Hokkaido with a car.

Explore the Area

Besides a parking lot, the pond has not much touristic development. It takes visitors 5-10 minutes to walk through the forest to the pond.
Pond has a number of small paths covered with white birch trees. Each path provides a unique angle of the pond, so be sure to explore! Some don’t have any fencing, so be careful not to fall in!

When we visited there in summer, they also sold there a soft ice cream replicating the mysterious blue color.
Artificial blue coloring is mixed into the ice cream, while its lemonade flavor gives it a refreshing aftertaste. The ice cream, which is garnished with an blue fox cookie, can only be found at the shop near the pond.
It was costs 500 yen for a cone.