Volcano

Mount Aso: 2 Live Cameras in Japan

An active volcano inside one of the world's great calderas. One camera on the crater of Nakadake, one on Nekodake from the south — the monitoring eye and the scenic eye.

What you can see

There is no single mountain called Aso. The five peaks at the centre of an enormous caldera — Takadake, Nakadake, Nekodake, Kishimadake and Eboshidake — are known collectively as the Aso Five, and the one currently active is Nakadake.

The Meteorological Agency's Kusasenri camera looks towards the crater from grassland to the west of Nakadake. Kusasenri is itself an old crater, so the frame holds the grass plain in front and the venting summit behind.

Nekodake seen from Minami-Aso is an Environment Ministry scenery camera. Nekodake is the jagged, saw-toothed rock peak at the eastern end of the Aso Five — an eroded old volcano, in pointed contrast to the active Nakadake. It is shot looking up from inside the caldera, where cloud comes and goes fast.

Cameras you can watch now: 2

All 2 are still images. Tap one to open it in the camera list.

• Sample August 2026

  Kusasenri, Mount Aso

  Aso, Kumamoto · Volcano · Nature

  Grassland in front of the Nakadake crater, sometimes with grazing horses. An unusual frame that holds both a volcanic plume and a meadow.

  JMA Still, every 2 min Open the official page →

• Sample August 2026

  Mount Nekodake from Minami-Aso

  Minami-Aso, Kumamoto · Volcano

  The jagged eastern peak of the five Aso mountains, seen looking up from inside the caldera. Cloud drapes and lifts off it all day.

  MOE Still, hourly Open the official page →

When to watch

Inside the caldera, fog pools in the morning. On a clear autumn or winter dawn it can become a sea of cloud — spectacular from up on the caldera rim, but a blank white screen from a camera down inside it. To be sure of seeing something, come after 9 a.m., once it has burned off.

Through the year: the grass at Kusasenri greens up in May, and horses and cattle are put out to graze over summer. From late October into November it dies back to gold, and in winter it can take snow. Identical framing, completely different colour.

How much is venting varies enormously day to day — sometimes nothing, sometimes a white column standing over the crater. It refreshes every two minutes, so leave it a while and come back to see movement.

Where Mount Aso is

• Kumamoto6

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.