Volcano
Shikotsu-Toya: 4 Live Cameras in Japan
Four cameras inside Shikotsu-Toya National Park in Hokkaido: Mount Usu across Lake Toya, Mount Tarumae, the steaming Noboribetsu Jigokudani, and a lake that never freezes.
What you can see
These four look like unrelated views. They are one continuous volcanic landscape. Lake Shikotsu and Lake Toya are both calderas — ground that collapsed after enormous eruptions and then filled with water — and Tarumae and Usu grew later on their rims and inside them. The whole area is a UNESCO Global Geopark.
Mount Usu has erupted four times since 1910 alone, building a new hill or crater each time; Showa-Shinzan is one of them. The 2000 eruption emptied the hot-spring town on Lake Toya. The camera looks across the lake from its eastern shore.
Mount Tarumae is unmistakable. A grey lava dome sits on top of the summit like a lid, a different colour from the rest of the mountain even at distance. You see the same shape from the streets of Tomakomai.
Noboribetsu Jigokudani belongs to the Kuttara volcano. Steam fills an old explosion crater with a boardwalk running through it. The water in the Noboribetsu hot springs comes from here.
Lake Shikotsu is deep enough that it barely freezes, ringed by Eniwa and Fuppushi and known for how clear the water is.
Cameras you can watch now: 4
All 4 are still images. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Usu
Toyako, Hokkaido · Volcano · Nature
It has erupted four times since 1910, each time raising new hills and craters. The camera looks across Lake Toya from the eastern shore.
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Sample August 2026
Mount Tarumae
Tomakomai, Hokkaido · Volcano
A lava dome sits on the summit, giving it a shape you recognise from a distance. It stands south of Lake Shikotsu and is clearly visible from Tomakomai.
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Sample August 2026
Kuttara, Noboribetsu Jigokudani
Noboribetsu, Hokkaido · Volcano · Nature
The valley the Noboribetsu hot springs come from. Steam fills an old explosion crater, crossed by a boardwalk. The colder it gets, the thicker the white.
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Sample August 2026
Lake Shikotsu and the surrounding peaks
Chitose, Hokkaido · Nature
A lake deep enough that it barely freezes. Ringed by Mount Eniwa and Mount Fuppushi, and known for how clear the water is.
When to watch
Winter is what this page is for. The colder it gets, the whiter and thicker the steam at Jigokudani, with bare rock still showing between the white of the snow and the white of the vapour. And because Shikotsu does not freeze, the lake stays black while everything around it turns white.
For Usu across Lake Toya, try a windless morning. On the right day the surface goes to mirror and the mountain appears twice, once upside down.
The three volcano cameras refresh every two minutes; Lake Shikotsu only once an hour. If you are waiting out cloud, use the volcano cameras.
Hokkaido days are short. In December it is dark by late afternoon — open these about an hour earlier than instinct tells you if you are used to Honshu.
Where Shikotsu-Toya is
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.