Monday, 20 October 2025

OK today was the day I got serious. On the advice of another friend I booked a taxi tour of the Biei region to chase some autumn leaves. Typically the tours are done in spring for lavender season where the hills are alive with colour and the local bus tours seem to end at the end of September (or at the latest the public holiday at the beginning of the month). The default tours aren’t really oriented at photographers chasing colour so it was a matter of taking their base tour and asking for things to be removed and others added and hope that the added things turned into photo opportunities.

Anyway it’s a pretty full day, leaving the hotel at 9am and back around 3:30pm.

The driver turned up at the lobby of my hotel (which is on the third floor) with a name sign and I immediately turn him around and we were back in the lift and heading to his car. First bonus was his English skills since I wasn’t really expecting that and I have no Japanese. The cab was a Toyota but not the classic Crown type but rather something approximate to a London Cab so there was plenty of room in the back.

First stop was the Blue Pond, about 50 minutes away. This is the tourist magnet site and there was a large carpark with tour buses and quite a few cars. My driver gave me a brief run down on the layout and I was off for 30 minutes. The path was dirt and wet but that was OK, and then it started to snow which was a double edged sword, there was snow to contend with the camera but the tourists thinned out.

Shooting at the snow

Pretty blue pond and autumn leaves: mission accomplished

I could have declared victory and been happy with the day but it was onto the next stop just up the road, Shirahige Waterfall. It’s at an Onsen (or rather the Onsen is at the waterfall site) and there is a bridge across the river so you can get a nice shot of the modest waterfall. The pictures I had seen of it looked weird, like digital zoom or something, but it does look kinda weird in real life.

Shirahige Waterfall

There were also pretty trees to photograph so 2 from 2.

Autumn leave and a very blue river

The blue colour is caused by aluminium hydroxide.

From here we were onto the first site I added to the list, Bougakudai, which is up a mountain. Not a high one but I was hoping I’d get a nice view across the region. Yeah, nah. Those snow flurries at the Blue Pond were even more impressive when you went higher up. Never a good sign when the road is closed going across the mountain to another onsen but the road to Bougakudai was open and so we went. Not quite a white out up there but photography was challenging.

This is as far as I went on the hiking trail

Next stop was Chiyoda Farm, which was on the standard itinerary and I couldn’t seem to dislodge it. Probably more for children than adults but I was told I should try the milk (full cream Jersey). Certainly very nice but not much different to Australian Jersey milk. The plastic bottle it came in was cute with a plastic ring pull under a plastic cap. I’m not convinced the plastic cap would stay on but that was moot after I drank the milk 🙂

It was now lunch time so I got an hour to have some hot soba and warm up.

A tasty and warm lunch

Yes there were a lot of soba noodles under that egg broth.

After lunch it was onto a series of “famous” sites, a number of which were associated with TV commercials (both tobacco and motor cars).

First up is Rollercoaster Road.

Not kidding around about the roller coaster

View to the side wasn’t too bad either

Now onto the TV commercials. Apparently the commercials didn’t say where they were shot but once people worked out where they were they became famous and a couple have large carparks due to their fame.

Firstly Mild Seven (tobacco) Hill. I knew about Mild Seven due to Mild Seven sponsoring a team in Formula One (until tobacco sponsorship was banned) but hadn’t seen the ad.

The trees on Mild Seven Hill

The trees weren’t remarkable, maybe it was better if you had seen the ads, but the weather was mostly playing nice and there was some scenery.

A more interesting clump of trees next to Mild Seven

Sometimes one is enough

and then there are extras

From here it was off to Ken and Mary Tree and then Seven Star Tree but now it was really wet so the main camera stayed in the taxi and I did the “needfull” with the iPhone.

Ken and Mary Tree (Nissan Skyline ad)

Seven Star Tree

The piles next to the farm machinery are sugar beets.

From there it was back to Asahikawa Station. Tomorrow brings the first trains of the trip. I am hoping for better weather but I doubt I will get it.