Mount Omuro

From the coast road near Izu Kogen, Omuroyama looks like an upturned bowl covered in green felt, with no trees and not a single path up its side. That is deliberate. The whole cone, formed in an eruption about 4,000 years ago and the largest scoria cone in the Izu Eastern volcano group, is a national natural monument, and climbing on foot is banned to protect the slopes. The only way up is the two-seat chairlift from the torii gate at the base, a six-minute ride costing 1,000 yen return for adults, sold as round trips only. At the top a path of about 1 km circles the crater rim in 20 to 30 minutes; on clear days you see Mount Fuji, the Izu Islands and the Boso Peninsula. The crater itself, 300 meters across and 70 deep, has an archery range with eight targets, and a small Sengen shrine. The ridge is exposed: the lift stops in strong wind, and the path is too steep for strollers. Every year on the second Sunday of February the grass is set alight in the yamayaki, a tradition said to be 700 years old; the whole outer slope burns in about 40 minutes, though rain or wind often pushes it back a week.