Volcano
Mount Tarumae: 1 Live Camera in Japan — the lava dome
Mount Tarumae, south of Lake Shikotsu, refreshed every two minutes by the Japan Meteorological Agency. A grey lava dome sits on the summit and flattens its top.
What you can see
Mount Tarumae stands south of Lake Shikotsu, and is clearly visible from the streets of Tomakomai.
What makes it easy to recognise is the grey lava dome sitting on the summit. The top is cut flat, so the ridge line alone tells you which mountain it is.
The burn-in on this picture reads Tarumae-san (Betsubetsugawa). There is a long distance between the camera and the mountain, so on hazy days it fades out to white. The outline only comes up when the air is clear.
The camera belongs to the Japan Meteorological Agency and is there to watch for eruptions. The time stamp sits bottom-right.
Cameras you can watch now: 1
All 1 are still images. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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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.
When to watch
The picture is replaced every two minutes, so you can reopen it while you wait for the haze or the cloud to move.
It is a distant mountain in frame, so how clear the air is that day matters more than the season. The mountain is often there and simply washed out.
Days are short in Hokkaido: in December the light is gone soon after 3 p.m. Open it about an hour earlier than you would on Honshu.
If it isn't showing
The cameras around Lake Shikotsu and Lake Toya are collected under Shikotsu-Toya.
Every one of the agency's cameras is under JMA Volcano Watch Cameras, and the cameras in the prefecture under Hokkaido.
All the volcano cameras are under Volcano, and there is a piece on What volcano cameras are looking at.
Where to find Mount Tarumae
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.