Live camera
Mount Kuju live camera — Oita
A cluster of peaks. The northern slope of Mount Hossho holds the Iozan vent field, where white steam creeps down the hillside.
Sample August 2026What you are looking at
One of the volcanoes the Japan Meteorological Agency keeps under constant watch. It is a cluster of peaks; on the northern flank of Hosshozan lies the Iwoyama steaming ground, where white vapour creeps down the slope rather than rising.
It creeps because the steam cools after it leaves the ground, grows heavy, and follows the terrain downhill. On a windless morning this is especially clear.
The last magma came out about 1,700 years ago, and the lava from it is Kurodake. Eruptions since have been phreatic — most recently on 11 October 1995, from the eastern flank of Hosshozan. Ash reached Kumamoto, and it threw out ash again that December and once more in January 1996. On the west side, at Hatchobaru and Otake, geothermal power stations run on this same heat.
From May into June comes the Miyama-kirishima azalea. For a while the mountainside reads as pink, and even a distant camera picks up the change of colour. In winter, rime ice forms. Kuju is a Kyushu mountain that nonetheless takes real snow, and the top can be white while the foot has rain.
The power station at Hatchobaru is the largest geothermal plant in Japan. Its output is in the region of a hundred and ten thousand kilowatts, and the steam drawn up from underground turns the turbines directly. The steam in the frame and the steam being used to generate come out of the same heat.
Steam looks whiter and thicker the colder the day. Mornings are better: cloud builds over the Oita mountains in the afternoon and the summit is often hidden by early afternoon.
About this camera
| Place | Oita |
| Format | Still, every 2 min |
| Time zone | Asia/Tokyo (UTC+9) |
| Category | Volcano · Nature |
| 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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