Live camera
Mount Unzen live camera — Shimabara, Nagasaki
The eruption that began in 1991 built the peak now called Heisei Shinzan. The paths the pyroclastic flows took are still visible; the camera looks from Nodake.
Sample August 2026What you are looking at
Mount Unzen, under continuous watch by the Japan Meteorological Agency. The mountain sits at the centre of the Shimabara peninsula, and the frame includes the lava dome.
The high point is Heisei-shinzan, 1,483 metres — a peak that did not exist before the eruption that ran from 1990 to 1995. Lava pushed out of the vent hardened into a dome, and each time part of that dome gave way a pyroclastic flow raced down the slope. The flow of 3 June 1991 killed many people, journalists and researchers among them. The tracks those flows cut are still visible on the flanks.
There are older eruption records too. Lava flowed in December 1663, and the following spring water overflowed from a crater, flooded Antoku-kawara and killed more than thirty people. From March 1792 a lava flow 2.7 kilometres long took about two months to run out, and on 21 May of that year, at the moment of a strong earthquake, Mount Mayu collapsed on a huge scale; the debris entered the Ariake Sea and raised a tsunami. That is the disaster Shimabara still tells of.
The Shimabara peninsula is ringed by sea, so damp air hits the mountain and makes cloud easily. Through the rainy season in June and July there are many days when nothing is visible. Autumn and winter bring drier, steadier air.
Morning to late morning is the window; wind coming up off the sea brings mist in the afternoon. The still refreshes every two minutes.
About this camera
| Place | Shimabara, Nagasaki |
| Format | Still, every 2 min |
| Time zone | Asia/Tokyo (UTC+9) |
| Category | Volcano |
| 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.