Live camera
Suwanosejima live camera — Kagoshima
An island that erupts repeatedly, throwing ash from the crater on many days. The settlement is well away from it.
Sample August 2026What you are looking at
Mount On on Suwanosejima, under continuous watch by the Japan Meteorological Agency. This island in the Tokara chain holds one of the most frequently erupting volcanoes in Japan.
The peak is 799 metres. Eruption here is close to the normal state, and in some years several hundred explosions are recorded. The eruption of 1813 made the island uninhabitable and it stood empty for roughly seventy years. Fewer than a hundred people live there now. It has an airstrip and a harbour, but ash is part of ordinary life.
The state of erupting every year has held since 1956. Japan Meteorological Agency records show that in 2022 large blocks were repeatedly observed flying about a kilometre from the centre of the crater, and in January 2024 one reached roughly 1.1 kilometres. That distance is why the village sits where it does. For eruptions before 1813, no record survives.
Morning is best. Plume and steam photograph whiter and denser when the air is cold, and thin out as the sun climbs; by the humid afternoon you cannot tell plume from cloud.
Winter is the season. This is the subtropics and cloud is heavy year-round — through the rainy season and summer the visibility is simply gone. The air dries and the island's outline appears from November to March.
There is almost no town light, so nights are close to blank. When an eruption is running, though, the crater can glow red.
About this camera
| Place | Kagoshima |
| 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.
Cameras nearby
- Sendai RiverKagoshima / MiyazakiLive video, rotating
- Kimotsuki RiverOsumi Peninsula, KagoshimaLive video, rotating
- Cranes on the Izumi plainIzumi, KagoshimaStill, hourly
- Sakurajima surveillance camerasKagoshimaStill image
- Sakurajima (JMA camera)KagoshimaStill, every 2 min
- Satsuma IwojimaKagoshimaStill, every 2 min
- KuchinoerabujimaKagoshimaStill, every 2 min
- NakanoshimaKagoshimaStill, every 2 min