Region
Hokkaido Live Cameras in Japan — 15 official webcams
Nine monitored volcanoes and six cameras on Hokkaido's marshes and lakes, four of them Ramsar wetlands. Nowhere else in Japan follows cranes and swans on separate cameras.
15 cameras in Hokkaido
All 15 are still images. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Sample August 2026
Lake Kussharo from Bihoro Pass
Bihoro, Hokkaido · Nature
Japan's largest caldera lake seen from the pass above. It freezes in winter, and under the right conditions the ice cracks and buckles into ridges.
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Sample August 2026
Red-crowned cranes, Kushiro Marsh
Kushiro, Hokkaido · Nature · Wildlife
A vast wetland home to a protected species. With luck you catch one walking the grass, or the moment it takes off.
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Sample August 2026
Whooper swans, Lake Kuccharo
Hamatonbetsu, Hokkaido · Nature · Wildlife
A brackish lake near the Sea of Okhotsk. During spring and autumn migration the flocks cover the surface.
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Sample August 2026
Lake Shikotsu and the surrounding peaks
Chitose, Hokkaido · Nature
A lake deep enough that it barely freezes. Ringed by Mount Eniwa and Mount Fuppushi, and known for how clear the water is.
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Sample August 2026
Sarobetsu Mire
Toyotomi, Hokkaido · Nature
One of Japan's largest raised bogs, running to the horizon. On a clear day Mount Rishiri floats beyond the sea.
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Sample August 2026
Sarobetsu Mire from the Horonobe visitor centre
Horonobe, Hokkaido · Nature
A huge wetland of boardwalks and bog pools. On a clear day Mount Rishiri floats beyond the sea to the west.
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Sample August 2026
Atosanupuri (Mount Io)
Teshikaga, Hokkaido · Volcano · Nature
Steam rises from all over this hillside, which is why it is locally called the sulphur mountain. The camera faces the vent field just behind the car park.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Meakan
Ashoro, Hokkaido · Volcano
The one mountain in the Akan group still venting steam from its crater. The view is from the side of the cone-shaped Akan-Fuji next to it.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Asahi, Daisetsuzan
Higashikawa, Hokkaido · Volcano · Nature
The highest peak in Hokkaido. White steam rises constantly from Jigokudani midway up, seen looking up from the Sugatami area at the top of the ropeway.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Tokachi
Biei, Hokkaido · Volcano · Nature
The 1926 eruption melted the snow all at once into a mudflow that did great damage below. The summit is seen over the gentle pastureland on the Biei side.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Tarumae
Tomakomai, Hokkaido · Volcano
A lava dome sits on the summit, giving it a shape you recognise from a distance. It stands south of Lake Shikotsu and is clearly visible from Tomakomai.
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Sample August 2026
Kuttara, Noboribetsu Jigokudani
Noboribetsu, Hokkaido · Volcano · Nature
The valley the Noboribetsu hot springs come from. Steam fills an old explosion crater, crossed by a boardwalk. The colder it gets, the thicker the white.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Usu
Toyako, Hokkaido · Volcano · Nature
It has erupted four times since 1910, each time raising new hills and craters. The camera looks across Lake Toya from the eastern shore.
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Sample August 2026
Hokkaido Komagatake
Shikabe, Hokkaido · Volcano
The 1640 eruption collapsed the summit into the pointed outline it has now. Seen head-on from Shikabe on Uchiura Bay, bare rock at the top.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Esan
Hakodate, Hokkaido · Volcano · Sea
At the eastern tip of the Oshima Peninsula, jutting into the Tsugaru Strait. The vent field on its flank is still active, and azaleas redden the slope in early summer.
When to watch
The wetland and lake cameras become different places with the seasons. Lake Kutcharo is a stopover rather than a wintering ground for its whooper swans, so numbers swing sharply in spring and autumn, and the lake can freeze over in midwinter. The red-crowned cranes of Kushiro Marsh do not migrate and are there year-round, but they are easiest to spot in winter, once the grass has died back and snow has fallen. The camera watches one point of a very large marsh, so open it expecting to search the frame. Sarobetsu Mire comes into flower from June into July.
The nine volcano cameras look much the same all year, but winter days are short here: in December it is already dark by mid-afternoon. If you want a Hokkaido morning, open it about an hour earlier than you would for Honshu.
Closer looks at cameras here
Agencies publishing the cameras on this page
- Japan Meteorological Agency — volcano surveillance cameras (PDL 1.0) — Official site
- Ministry of the Environment — Internet Nature Institute (PDL 1.0) — Official site
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.