Volcano

Niijima: 1 Live Camera in Japan — the island of koga stone

Niijima, refreshed every two minutes by the Japan Meteorological Agency. The island itself is white rhyolite, and the sea cliffs come out in that colour.

What you can see

Niijima is an island made of white rhyolite. The cliffs look pale on screen because of the colour of the rock, not soil or snow.

The stone is called koga stone. It holds so much trapped gas that it is light enough to float on water, and there are very few places in the world where it can be quarried. People on the island have cut it for centuries and built walls and houses out of it. The cliffs in the frame and the buildings on the island are the same rock.

The shape in the frame is a low ridge running sideways, not a cone. You are looking along the island's back rather than up at a peak. Green scrub sits in the near part of the picture.

The burn-in reads Niijima (Shikine). The camera belongs to the Japan Meteorological Agency and exists to watch for eruptions, not for the view, so the framing does not move when cloud comes in.

Cameras you can watch now: 1

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

• Sample August 2026

  Niijima

  Niijima, Tokyo · Volcano · Sea

  An island of white rhyolite, long quarried for building stone. The camera faces neighbouring Shikinejima.

  JMA Still, every 2 min Open the official page →

When to watch

The picture is replaced every two minutes, so you can keep reopening it while you wait for a gap in the cloud.

Island cameras are weak against cloud and fog. There is sea on every side, so damp air hits the island as it is. From the rainy season through summer there are stretches of days where you open it and get white.

Aim for winter. After the northwesterly monsoon blows, the air dries out and the white of the cliffs separates clearly from the colour of the sea.

For time of day, early morning. Past midday, air rising up the slope turns to cloud. Niijima sits toward the north of the chain, so if you want light in the late afternoon the southern islands keep it longer.

Summer into autumn is typhoon season here. With one approaching the screen goes dark and raindrops blur the lens.

If it isn't showing

The seven cameras down the chain are gathered in The Izu Islands. Nearby is Kozushima, and further south Hachijojima.

All of the agency's cameras are in JMA Volcano Watch Cameras, and the cameras of the same prefecture in Tokyo.

Every volcano camera is in Volcano and every sea camera in Sea; the article is What volcano cameras are looking at.

Where to find Niijima

• Tokyo19

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.