Nature
Lake Towada: 2 Live Cameras in Japan
A caldera lake across the Aomori–Akita border. The lake itself is the volcano, and it is continuously monitored. A second camera looks down on it from the Hakka Pass viewpoint.
What you can see
Lake Towada is water standing in a hollow made by volcanic activity. On its southern side a smaller caldera is nested inside the first, pushing two arms — the Nakayama and Ogura peninsulas — out into the lake.
Lake Towada from Hakka Pass (Environment Ministry) is the standard view: down over the whole lake from a viewpoint on the south shore. Trees in front, water below them, mountains on the far side — a composition with real depth.
The Meteorological Agency's Towada camera is there to watch the lake as an active volcano. As scenery it is a quiet lake; on the official list it is a continuously monitored volcano. Seeing one place as both view and volcano is an unusual pairing.
Cameras you can watch now: 2
All 2 are still images. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Sample August 2026
Lake Towada from Hakka Pass
Kosaka, Akita · Nature
The double caldera lake seen whole from the pass overlook. The water shifts from blue to lead grey with the angle of the light.
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Sample August 2026
Towada
Aomori / Akita border · Volcano · Nature
Lake Towada is itself the scar of an enormous crater. It produced one of the largest eruptions in Japanese history in the Heian period; today it is simply a quiet lake.
When to watch
Autumn colour from mid to late October is the main event. The slopes ringing the lake are beech and maple, so a band of colour forms along the waterline. Together with the nearby Oirase stream, this is when people come.
Winter snow is deep, and some lakeside roads close. The lake does not freeze over entirely, but ice forms along the shore. Deep blue water left in the middle of an otherwise white frame is a picture you only get in this season.
For time of day, morning. The lake is ringed by mountains, so shadow reaches across the far side and darkens it in the afternoon. On a windless morning the surface goes to mirror and the far mountains land whole on it.
Where Lake Towada 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.