Next to Sapporo, Furano is perhaps the main Hokkaido destination for Japanese tourists... but some otherwise very complete English-language guidebooks don’t tell the reason: it was the setting for “Kita no Kuni Kara,” perhaps the most fondly remembered TV show in Japanese history. Everywhere you go in Hokkaido, you see posters from the show, and the theme song is used as BGM as far away as Rausu. Naturally, Furano is ground zero for the memorabilia. It’s also a pretty area in its own right, with farmland and rolling hills. This photo shows a bit of its charm.

This is the reason that so many people come to Furano in July: lovely flowers in general and lavender in particular. One of the larger tourist farms, Tomita Farm, has fields and fields of it, and emphasizes it with great marketing: the entire staff wears purple aprons emblazoned with the TF logo.