River
Dams and weirs: 8 Live Cameras — when the gates open
Eight cameras where a river is held back: six in Japan on a gate or a weir, changing the moment water is released, and two in Taiwan on the water stored.
What you can see
A camera at a barrier shows different things depending on whether it looks below it or above it.
The six looking below belong to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Nomura Dam and Nagayasuguchi Dam are seen just downstream; Kanogawa Dam is filmed head-on at the gate the water leaves by. How hard the water is running is readable from the picture, without any numbers. The three weirs are placed on the same logic: Shindenbarai weir is seen from just below, while Hakko weir and Nakaichi weir are filmed from the bank with the structure itself in shot.
The two looking above are in Taiwan. Deji Dam is an arch dam across the Dajia River, and the camera shows its reservoir; Dapu Dam shows the long narrow lake the dam made. These look at stored water, so a change in level turns up directly in how the shore reads. Whether the year was wet or dry can be told from how far up the bank the water reaches.
The eight are put together because they are two sides of the same structure. The Japanese six show only the water going out; the Taiwanese two show only the water held in. Together they cover both halves of what a dam does.
Cameras you can watch now: 8
All 8 are live video. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Stream cover
Nomura Dam, just downstream
Seiyo, Ehime · River
Looking at the left bank immediately below Nomura Dam, on the upper Hijikawa. The camera holds this one spot, so a release can be followed from the moment it starts.
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Stream cover
Kanogawa Dam outlet gate
Ozu, Ehime · River
The outlet of Kanogawa Dam on the middle Hijikawa, seen head-on. How much the dam is passing is readable here without looking at any number.
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Stream cover
Nagayasuguchi Dam, just downstream
Naka, Tokushima · River
Just below Nagayasuguchi Dam on the upper Nakagawa. This is some of the wettest country in Shikoku, and the current changes abruptly once a release begins.
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Stream cover
Yoshii River, below the weir
Okayama · River
The reach immediately below the Shintabarai weir, which dams the Yoshii River. How the water falls away from the weir is visible here.
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Stream cover
Oda River, upper weir
Okayama · River
A weir on the Oda River, which joins the Takahashi. Mabi, downstream, went under water in the rains of 2018, and work to move the junction followed.
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Stream cover
Oze River, Nakaichi weir
Yamaguchi / Hiroshima border · River
The Nakaichi weir on the Oze River, which runs along the border between Hiroshima and Yamaguchi, filmed from the right bank.
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Live video
Lishan, Deji Reservoir
Lishan, Taichung · Nature
The reservoir behind an arch dam on the Dajia River. The Jiayang alluvial fan spreads out on the far bank.
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Live video
Emei Lake and Dapu Reservoir, Shitoushan
Emei, Hsinchu · Nature
The long narrow lake made by the Dapu dam, seen from a different angle than the camera on the Maitreya statue.
When to watch
The six in Japan are most useful during a release and during heavy rain. The picture changes clearly once water starts leaving the gate, so the beginning and the end of a release are both visible. Decisions about evacuating should follow your local authority. These cameras are for seeing what is going on.
The rougher the day, the darker the picture, and rain blurs the lens. Do not expect much of the image.
On calm days the three weirs are the ones to open. The less water there is, the more clearly you can see which way the thread of water spilling over the weir leans.
The two in Taiwan are only one hour behind Japan: noon in Taiwan is 13:00 in Japan, and there is no daylight saving. A lake surface throws light back, so both read bright on a clear day.
The sources do not publish a best season, so this page does not invent one.
If it isn't showing
The sources are the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Shikoku and Chugoku regional bureaus) and the Tri-Mountain National Scenic Area Administration in Taiwan. All eight are video, and they are trial streams that can stop without notice. What is happening when a live camera shows nothing explains how to tell why.
Each river is covered in full on its own page: The Hijikawa River (Nomura and Kanogawa), The Naka River (Nagayasuguchi), The Yoshii River System (Shindenbarai), The Takahashi River System (Hakko) and The Oze River (Nakaichi).
The Taiwanese two also appear on Lishan and Emei Lake, Shitoushan. All the river cameras are gathered under River. For another kind of dammed water, the Urabandai pond on Volcanic lakes was blocked by an eruption rather than built.
Where to find Dams and weirs
Agencies publishing the cameras on this page
- MLIT river live streams (Government Standard Terms 2.0) — Official site
- Tri-Mountain National Scenic Area (Taiwan open government data) — 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.