There are a few options offered by JR Twinkle Bus to tour some hot spots in Biei and Furano area. However, the tours stopped running daily after 31st August. See, there's the summer thingy again. Anyway, our stop around Furano Biei area was initially coincide with weekends anyway, so lucky for us there. :)

We opted for the Takushinkan Course, 500 yen per ride per adult but only one tour departure in September, at 1.15 pm. Main reason for picking this option was the stopover at The Hill of Seasonal Colours, which is also famously known as Shikisai no Oka. Shikisai no Oka is one of the few places where there were still flowers in the fields in September.

JR Twinkle Bus pick up place was just outside of Biei Train Station.



Shin ei Hill Observatory Park (Shin ei no Oka 新栄の丘)

This observatory park is located on Shinei Hill along Panoramic Road, it is between the nearby town and Takushinkan photo art gallery.

This was, however, viewed from bus, and as fate has it, it was at the opposite window from where I sat. Hence - the blur crappy shot, zoomed all across where I sat. :(


Takushinkan Photo Gallery 拓真館


Shinzo Maeda (前田真三, 1922–1998) was a famous landscape photographer especially with his work in Biei. He moved to Biei and spent his the later part of his life taking marvelous photo of the hills. Takushinkan museum exhibits 80 pieces of his work.



Admission is free and one is required to remove their shoes at the entrance. The photos on exhibit were superb! Photography is prohibited in the gallery though ;)

empty fields :(

Next to the photo gallery, was a nice, great piece of field, there were no flowers though. I suspect if we were a month earlier, it was probably full with lavenders :)

The Hill of Seasonal Colours (Shikisai no Oka 四季彩の丘)


Shikisai no Oka is a huge flower garden, stretching across seven hectars of land on Oka no machi Biei. The leaflet said the stopover time was about 15 minutes but we were allowed a much longer stopover time, at least of 35 minutes.


This is why so many people flocked to Hokkaido every summer! Such a beautiful sight! If you think it's too huge to walk, you could rent a buggy or cart to move about.

A bite of the "heart"? LOL. I thought it looks cute

Bibaushi Elementary School 美馬牛小学校

It is said that Bibaushi Elementary School is famous for its triangular shape of roof with bell inside. Aside from that, I read that it is a magnificent place for sunset photography.

We only viewed it from the bus, it was out of sight before I could snap a picture. :(


Side note: Thinking of sushi...