Live camera
Mount Esan live camera — Hakodate, Hokkaido
At the eastern tip of the Oshima Peninsula, jutting into the Tsugaru Strait. The vent field on its flank is still active, and azaleas redden the slope in early summer.
Sample August 2026What you are looking at
One of the volcanoes the Japan Meteorological Agency keeps under constant watch. It sits at the eastern tip of the Oshima Peninsula, pushing out into the Tsugaru Strait.
The summit is 618 metres. That is low, but the mountain rises straight out of the sea, so the whole of it, base to summit, is in view. The steaming ground on its flank is still active, with vapour coming directly out of the earth in places.
Every eruption in historical times has been small, but the mountain is close to where people live, so there has been damage. In 1764 steam activity intensified and lives were lost; in the eruption of 18 November 1846 a mudflow came down from the Mizunashizawa crater and wrecked houses. The last eruption from a crater was in June 1874. About 2,500 years ago this lava dome collapsed and a debris avalanche ran down to the foot.
Early summer is the seasonal turning point. The slopes turn red with azalea then, and the red hillside and the grey steaming ground share a single frame.
Mornings are the safest bet. With sea on three sides cloud builds through the day and the summit is often lost by the afternoon. When sea fog comes in, the whole mountain can disappear into white.
A still image, refreshed every two minutes, so you can wait for a break in the cloud and open it again. After dark there is little to see.
About this camera
| Place | Hakodate, Hokkaido |
| Format | Still, every 2 min |
| Time zone | Asia/Tokyo (UTC+9) |
| Category | Volcano · Sea |
| Operator | Japan Meteorological Agency — volcano surveillance cameras |
| Terms of use | PDL 1.0 |
The operator's own page
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.
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