Aoi Ike (Blue Pond)

An accidental landscape created in 1988 when an erosion-control dam on the Biei River caught a tributary carrying volcanic minerals from Mt. Tokachi. The aluminum hydroxide in the water scatters blue light the same way the sky does, giving the pond a saturated turquoise color that changes with weather and season. Larch trees that drowned when the pond formed still stand bleached above the water. The pond was used as an Apple desktop wallpaper in 2014, putting it on every visitor's itinerary since.