Juniko Aoike

Published: Aug 11, 2026

Updated: Aug 11, 2026

AoikeJunikoShirakamiblue pondbeech forest

Representative image — not a photograph of this location.

Juniko is a scatter of thirty-three lakes and ponds in beech forest at the western edge of the Shirakami mountains, formed when an earthquake in 1704 collapsed a hillside and dammed the drainage. The name means twelve lakes because twelve are visible from a viewpoint above; there are considerably more than that.

One of them is the reason people come. Aoike is small, shallow and an intense cobalt blue that nobody has fully explained — the water is clear, you can see submerged beech trunks lying on the bottom several metres down, and the colour changes with the light through the day. It is five or six minutes' walk from the bus stop, which makes it one of the very few genuinely spectacular things in the Shirakami World Heritage area that requires no hiking at all.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Open access during the season | Daylight only

Closed: Generally closed by snow from late November to early April

Entrance Fee

Free to visit | Paid parking near the pond | Some trails charged separately

Best Season

Late April–May for fresh beech green | Mid-October–early November for autumn colour

Visit Duration

1 hour for Aoike and the nearby ponds | 2–3 hours for the longer trails

Getting There

Access Information

Matsukami, Fukaura, Nishitsugaru District. From Juniko Station on the JR Gonō Line take the Konan bus on the Juniko line about 15 minutes to the Oku-Juniko Chushajo stop; Aoike is 5–10 minutes further on foot. By car, about 2 hours 45 minutes from Owani-Hirosaki IC. Paid parking near the pond. The area is generally accessible from early April to late November. Free to visit; some trails are charged. Fukaura tourism office 0173-74-4412.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Morning light for the colour.** The blue is strongest when the sun is on the water rather than across it, which in this valley means the middle of the morning. Overcast days flatten it considerably. **Five minutes from the bus stop.** This is the accessible one. If you want the Shirakami beech forest without a hike, Aoike plus the short circuit around the neighbouring ponds is under an hour and needs no equipment. **Walk further if you can.** The therapy road and the linked pond trails run for a couple of hours through mature beech and are near-empty compared with the pond itself. **Early April to late November.** Snow closes the area outside that window. **Do it by train.** The Gonō Line coastal railway stops at Juniko and the bus meets it. This is one of the few Shirakami access points that works entirely without a car.

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