A Summer in Sync: Bon and Pon of bonpon511 Discover Furano’s Charm in Matching Style

What does Japan’s most stylish coordinated couple pack for a Furano summer? Tsuyoshi and Tomi Seki of bonpon511 show us that great style belongs in every season.

Husband and wife Tsuyoshi and Tomi Seki do not dress alike by coincidence. Their carefully coordinated outfits have been a shared language — and one that nearly 900,000 people now follow through bonpon511. Married since 1980, the couple from Sendai have spent a decade posting their coordinated looks; they are as much a love story as a fashion one.

Their fame began by accident. It was their daughter who first put a photo of them online, and once the likes arrived, she talked them into creating account of their own. Chronicling their outfits has turned these two retirees into style figures for the silver generation, the phrase Japan and China use for their older years. 

Tomi told The Guardian in 2018 that the real gift of retirement has been time. “Now we’re on our own and finally have the time to do all the things we didn’t have the time to do when we were raising a family and working,” she said. Aside from their obvious love for dressing up, her hope was to show other couples that later life can be an adventure of its own, so long as you find something you enjoy doing together. Retirement, in her words, “can be a lot of fun." 

This summer, the pair left the city for central Hokkaido, settling into Fenix Furano on their first trip to the area. Over two days they worked their way through Furano and neighbouring Biei by car, with looks carefully coordinated to the colourful scenes of a Furano summer.

We always choose our outfits to suit the places we visit. For Furano, we picked coordinated looks that echoed the fresh, green summer scenery. Pon usually settles on an outfit first, and Bon builds his around hers. Whether it is something casual for the park or a little more polished for a museum, the destination tends to decide the palette.

We had been to Hakodate, Sapporo, and Otaru before, but never Furano. While much of Japan was in the thick of the humid rainy season, Furano welcomed us with clear skies. The air was dry and cool, and the green hills against the blue made everything feel calm.

We stayed at Fenix Furano for two nights and explored Furano and nearby Biei by rental car. Getting around was easy, with barely any traffic, so we could take the trip at our own pace. We are early risers who like to walk first thing wherever we are, so mornings were spent on foot, watching the town wake up.

The property sits close to central Furano, so restaurants and shops were within easy reach. The ski slopes are right out front, too, which had us picturing what a fine base it would make during winter. 

We stayed in the three-bedroom premier suite, which would suit a family or a group of friends. With a full kitchen and a washing machine, it is built for longer stays, and we found ourselves wishing we had time to cook with local produce.

What set the trip apart was the care The Luxe Nomad put into it from the very start. The flights, the rental car, the welcome at the hotel: every detail was handled, so we could travel with our minds at ease. The team sorted our restaurant reservations, and everyone greeted us with a smile.

Furano has been on our list for years. We took a hot air balloon ride at the foot of the hills, something we had wanted to do since we were children and rose just high enough to see the fields laid out below. Seeing them from above is something we will hold onto for the rest of our lives.

The flower fields first, above all Farm Tomita, where the colour runs right to the horizon. There is plenty to do outdoors too, from hot air balloon rides to rafting, which makes it enjoyable for families and friends alike.

Biei is close by, so set aside time for the Blue Pond and Shikisai no Oka. And for dinner, we loved the jingisukan at Hokkaido Jingisukan MASAJIN near Furano Station.

For us, Furano has always meant From the Northern Country (Kita no Kuni Kara) — the Japanese drama filmed here. Its theme song played in our heads for the whole trip, and we were thrilled to finally stand in the real filming locations.