River

Horikiri: 1 Live Camera in Japan — emergency wharf

Horikiri on the Arakawa, refreshed every minute by the Ministry of Land. It is 9.8km from the mouth, a wharf built for moving people and goods by boat.

What you can see

This is an emergency wharf. If an earthquake or another disaster puts the roads out of use, the river is used in place of a road to move people and supplies. The Arakawa has three of them, at Horikiri, Komatsugawa and Shinsuna; this is the one furthest upstream.

The frame holds a concrete ramp and blue-green railings. It is equipment for tying up boats, so in ordinary times nobody is there. River to the left, grass to the right, reeds in the near frame, and behind it all a white steel arch bridge and an elevated expressway overlapping.

9.8km from the mouth. That is well down the Arakawa's ten cameras, far enough that the sea's tide starts to show in the water.

The picture is replaced every minute, with the place name burnt into the bottom left.

Cameras you can watch now: 1

All 1 are still images. Tap one to open it in the camera list.

• Sample August 2026

  Horikiri emergency wharf

  Katsushika, Tokyo · River

  9.8 km from the mouth. A landing built to move people and supplies by boat when roads are unusable. In normal times it is an empty, quiet waterfront.

  MLIT Arakawa Still, every minute Open the official page →

When to watch

Most useful in heavy rain and typhoons. The riverbank goes under from the bottom up as the water rises. But decide whether to evacuate from what your local authority says. The rougher the day, the darker the screen, and raindrops blur the lens.

On calm days, morning and evening. The river runs north to south, so the water blows out white in the middle of the day; in low light you can see across to the far bank.

In winter the air is clear and on some days you can see well past the levee. On summer evenings you see people out on the riverbank.

If it isn't showing

All ten cameras from the upper river to the mouth are gathered in The Arakawa. Just upstream is The Arakawa in Adachi, and further up Iwabuchi Floodgate.

Cameras where the tide shows are in Tides, and the cameras of the same prefecture in Tokyo.

Every river camera is in River, and the article is Why river cameras exist.

Where to find Horikiri

• Tokyo19

Agencies publishing the cameras on this page

• MLIT Arakawa Downstream River Office (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.