Enjoy the wide hills of Biei
The town of Biei is an agricultural region in Hokkaido and is an attractive tourist area for its landscape of hills on the wide farmland. Beautiful scenery can be enjoyed such as Patchwork Road for its patchwork-like fields of differing colors due to the different types of crops planted, and Panorama Road with its 360-degree view of the landscape. This is a hilly region whose expressions change over the seasons.
An oak tree that has become a symbol for the hills
Near Patchwork Road where the beautiful hills of Biei go off in every direction, there stands one lone oak tree. The tree became an overnight sensation for its use on a package of Seven Star cigarettes in 1976. Aside from this one tree, there is only rolling farmland surrounding it. You feel body and soul relaxing as you can’t help but look at the scene. In spring and summer, the flowers and green leaves are lovely while in the fall and winter, you can encounter that melancholy view. Especially in the winter, the entire area is covered in white and together with the bare oak, a scene of elegance is created.
Enjoying the search for other trees
Besides the Seven Star Tree, there are a number of other famous trees in Biei. The Ken & Mary Tree is a poplar tree that gained its fame in a car commercial. Its utmost beauty is due to its collaboration with the spreading mountains in the background. Also, there is the Oyako-no-Ki (Mother-and-Child Tree) which has 3 trees nestled so close to each other that they seem to make a family; they are oaks about 4km away from Biei. The trees are located atop the Mild Seven Hill, so named because it was used in a Mild Seven cigarette ad, and the hill stands out within the surrounding landscape. Plus there are other trees such as the Philosophy Tree which are surrounded by farmland. All of them can be enjoyed without disturbing any of the farms.