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Nara Live Cameras in Japan — 3 official webcams

Kami-Senbon on Mount Yoshino, the Zao-do hall of Kinpusen-ji, and river cameras on the Yamato and Saho. Two of the three are on Mount Yoshino, one of the great cherry-blossom sites in Japan, seen across the valley and from within.

What you can see

One scenic camera from the Ministry of the Environment, one live stream from a temple, and one river camera from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Kaminosenbon on Mount Yoshino sits within a World Heritage area known for its cherry trees, but blossom is not all the camera shows. The frame holds a hillside town stacked in terraces along the valley, with ranges layered behind it - a view that stands up outside the flowering weeks.

Kinpusen-ji Zao-do faces the hall that stands at the centre of Mount Yoshino. The great roof fills the frame, and the people walking in front of it give away its height. Where the Kami-Senbon camera looks at the mountain from a distance, this one stands at a single point inside it.

The Yamato and Saho rivers collect the water of the Nara basin, cut across the Ikoma hills and reach Osaka Bay. Long stretches run through built-up ground, and you can see buildings standing immediately beyond the levee.

3 cameras in Nara

2 video, 1 still. Tap one to open it in the camera list.

When to watch

Kami-Senbon, Mount Yoshino is one of the most strongly seasonal cameras on this site. Yoshino's cherries open in waves from Shimo-Senbon upward, and Kami-Senbon is usually at its best from early to mid-April. Those two weeks alone justify the camera.

After the blossom comes new green, and in autumn the colour; the whole hillside changes, so it repays opening once a season.

The blossom season changes Zao-do as well: the grounds in front of the hall fill with visitors, so opening it beside Kami-Senbon tells you roughly how far up the mountain the crowd has climbed.

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.

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