Toyako Onsen,
Hokkaido,
Japan
Sunday, February 15, 2009
I decided to head to Lake Toya on a tip that there were a couple of active volcanoes here. When I arrived, the ghost town (in winter anyway) of Toyako Onsen was overcast and a bit eerie. But I hopped on a bus to see Usuzan which last erupted in 2000. The weather cleared up and I realised just how beautiful this area is. The lake is a caldera and about 80m above sea level. It has a few islands that bubbled up from lava in the middle over a long long period. The volcano Usuzan had a hatchling to one side in the forties. A wheat field began to sprout a bump and Showa Shinzan was born. It is now 300m high (that`s some rapid growth in just a few decades). Showa Shinzan is still smoking. The photos here were taken from the bottom of this volcano. It was awesome.
