Mount Usu and Showa-shinzan

In 1943 a wheat field at the foot of Mount Usu began to rise, and by 1945 it had become a steaming lava dome. Photographic film was scarce in wartime, so Masao Mimatsu, the local postmaster, drew its outline again and again from the same spot and angle. His record, the Mimatsu Diagram, was shown at an international volcanology meeting in 1948. He then bought the mountain to protect it, and Showa-shinzan, now 398 m high, still belongs to his family; you look at it from below, as climbing is not allowed without permission. Across the car park the Usuzan Ropeway lifts you up Usu itself in about 6 minutes, 2,000 yen return for adults. Allow 40 minutes for the Lake Toya observation deck, or an hour to add the crater basin view. Usu last erupted in 2000, from vents right behind Toyako Onsen. Warnings got everyone out early, and nobody was killed or injured. Two trails now run through what it left. The Nishiyama route crosses the old Route 230, with a pond where the road used to be. The Konpira route passes a public bath and apartment blocks hit by hot mudflow. Both are open from late April to mid-November.