UNESCO Shirakami-Sanchi Primeval Forest & Aoike Blue Pond

Category: UNESCO World Natural Heritage & Mystical Forest Lakes | Location: Matsugami, Fukaura Town, Nishitsugaru-gun & Nishimeya Village, Aomori Prefecture

Spanning 130,000 hectares across the rugged mountain wilderness between southwestern Aomori and northwestern Akita Prefectures, Shirakami-Sanchi is an ecological wonderland inscribed in 1993 alongside Yakushima as Japan's very first UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. The range protects the largest surviving remnant of virgin Siebold's beech (buna) forest in all of East Asia. Preserved in a near-pristine climax state since the conclusion of the last Ice Age roughly 8,000 years ago without ever being subjected to commercial logging, this primeval wilderness provides an intact sanctuary for rare wildlife including the endangered black woodpecker (kumagera), Japanese serow, and golden eagles. On the western coastal foothills of Shirakami-Sanchi in Fukaura Town lies Juniko ('Twelve Lakes'), an enchanting constellation of forest waters. Despite its name, the network actually encompasses 33 scenic lakes and ponds created in 1704 when a massive earthquake triggered a catastrophic landslide that dammed local mountain streams; it was historically named 'Twelve Lakes' because only the twelve largest water bodies could be glimpsed through the dense forest canopy from the summit of nearby Mount Okuzure. The undisputed crown jewel of Juniko is Aoike (The Blue Pond), a small forest spring pond of breathtaking optical perfection. Plunging to a depth of nine meters, its waters radiate an otherworldly, luminous cobalt-blue and electric sapphire glow so transparent that fallen beech trunks resting on the sunlit pond bed appear preserved within pristine liquid crystal. Scientists attribute this surreal coloration to extraordinary water purity reflecting blue wavelengths of light off dissolved minerals. Travelers reach this remote ecological paradise aboard the popular Resort Shirakami scenic train, which hugs the rugged Sea of Japan coastline along the JR Gono Line.