Nature Observatory

← All cameras

Region

Aomori Live Cameras in Japan — 4 official webcams

Three monitored volcanoes — Iwaki, Hakkoda and Towada — and the swans of Mutsu Bay. Mountain and sea sit close here: a crater lake and a coastal wintering ground, same afternoon.

What you can see

Three of the four are volcanoes under constant watch by the Japan Meteorological Agency; the fourth is a waterbird camera from the Ministry of the Environment. The three volcanoes show completely different things. Mount Iwaki is a lone cone rising from the Tsugaru plain, Jigokunuma on Mount Hakkoda looks straight into a steaming, sulphurous fumarole field, and Towada is the lake that filled the caldera. Mountain, ground and water — three faces of the same volcanic process, which is the easiest way to hold them in your head.

Kominato beach is unusual: the swans gather on the sea, not on a lake. It is a shallow shore on Mutsu Bay, and the birds line up along the water's edge.

4 cameras in Aomori

All 4 are still images. Tap one to open it in the camera list.

When to watch

The swans at Kominato beach gather on the sea rather than on a lake, which is unusual. The shallow shore of Mutsu Bay fills with white birds along the waterline. They are winter visitors: most arrive around October, peak between December and February, and head north again in March. Waterbirds generally fly out to feed in the morning and return at dusk, so around sunrise and sunset are the times to watch.

Jigokunuma on Hakkoda is a fumarole field that smells of sulphur; Towada is a caldera lake that is itself the volcano. Two cameras on the same category of thing that show you completely different views — worth opening side by side.

Closer looks at cameras here

Agencies publishing the cameras on this page

The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.

To filter or re-sort, go to the camera list. You can narrow the cameras by format, region, subject and provider.