Region
Kagoshima Live Cameras in Japan — 9 official webcams
Sakurajima on two cameras, four island volcanoes of the southwest, the cranes of the Izumi plain, and two rivers. No prefecture in Japan has more volcano cameras.
9 cameras in Kagoshima
2 video, 7 still. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Sample August 2026
Cranes on the Izumi plain
Izumi, Kagoshima · Nature · Wildlife
Reclaimed farmland where over ten thousand cranes winter. Between October and March the frame can fill with birds.
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Still image
Sakurajima surveillance cameras
Kagoshima · Volcano
Cameras watching the plume, the ashfall and the debris flows. When the volcano is active you can see ash rising from the summit.
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Sample August 2026
Sakurajima (JMA camera)
Kagoshima · Volcano
Across the water from central Kagoshima, one of the most frequently erupting volcanoes in Japan. A different angle on it than the ministry's cameras.
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Sample August 2026
Satsuma Iwojima
Kagoshima · Volcano · Sea
An island where Mount Io gives off a white plume without stopping. Known for the iron leaching out and staining the sea around it red-brown.
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Sample August 2026
Kuchinoerabujima
Kagoshima · Volcano · Sea
The whole island was evacuated after the 2015 eruption. Steam rises from the Shindake crater, visible even from Yakushima.
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Sample August 2026
Nakanoshima
Kagoshima · Volcano · Sea
The largest island in the Tokara chain. The cone of Mount Otake takes up its northern half, with steam coming from near the summit.
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Sample August 2026
Suwanosejima
Kagoshima · Volcano · Sea
An island that erupts repeatedly, throwing ash from the crater on many days. The settlement is well away from it.
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Live video, rotating
Sendai River
Kagoshima / Miyazaki · River
The second-longest river in Kyushu. Sections with big drops such as Sogi Falls mean the current differs sharply between upstream and down.
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Live video, rotating
Kimotsuki River
Osumi Peninsula, Kagoshima · River
It crosses the Osumi plain to Shibushi Bay. Ash from Sakurajima sometimes washes into it.
When to watch
Sakurajima has two cameras, one from the ministry and one from the Meteorological Agency. Watch the summit for a while and you can tell whether it is venting. Cloud and ash plume are genuinely hard to tell apart; the plume is the one that rises straight off the summit before the wind takes it.
The cranes of the Izumi plain are a special case even among the bird cameras here. Most of the world's hooded cranes winter on this one plain, arriving between late October and November and heading north from around February. Nowhere else on earth gathers them in these numbers.
The four southwestern island cameras sit on small islands surrounded by sea and are heavily weather-dependent. Catch a clear day and you get the rare sight of a volcano and the ocean in one frame.
Closer looks at cameras here
Agencies publishing the cameras on this page
- Japan Meteorological Agency — volcano surveillance cameras (PDL 1.0) — Official site
- MLIT river live streams (Government Standard Terms 2.0) — Official site
- Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (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.