Volcano

Midagahara, Tateyama: 1 Live Camera in Japan

A lava plateau on the western side of Tateyama. It is a Ramsar-listed wetland and a continuously monitored volcano at the same time — and the only camera in Toyama Prefecture.

What you can see

Midagahara is a plateau on the western side of Tateyama, lying between about 1,600 and 2,000 m. Lava flowed and flattened into a tableland, wetland developed on top of it, and the result is a Ramsar-listed site.

The wetland is scattered with countless small pools known as gakita, which catch the sky and shine. Boardwalks run through it and you can walk out.

At the same time this is a continuously monitored volcano. Sulphurous vapour still vents from the nearby Jigokudani, and that is what this camera is watching. A wetland next door to a fumarole field is an odd arrangement.

This is the only camera in Toyama Prefecture, so there is no prefecture page for it.

Cameras you can watch now: 1

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

• Sample August 2026

  Midagahara

  Toyama · Volcano · Nature

  A plateau west of Tateyama. The area called Jigokudani vents hydrogen sulphide, and access is still restricted.

  JMA Still, every 2 min Open the official page →

When to watch

It lies along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, and from mid-April to around June there are walls of snow on both sides of the road. Known as the Yuki-no-Otani, the snow corridor, they can stand more than 10 m high.

The wetland greens up in July and August. From late September into early October the marsh grasses turn and the whole tableland goes red-brown — early for autumn colour, even by Honshu standards, because of the altitude.

From November the Alpine Route closes and the place is buried. For those months this camera is effectively the only way to see Midagahara.

Mornings. It is high, and cloud comes up out of the valleys in the afternoon and takes the view. The vents show best in the cold of early morning.

Agencies publishing the cameras on this page

• Japan Meteorological Agency — volcano surveillance cameras (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.