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Mount.Usu - Abuta

2014/08/09




After a long time, I had the chance to go on a road trip to Hokkaido, Japan. Today's topic is one of the stops I made while enjoying the drive across the southern part of Hokkaido.

This post is about is Mount Usu, a famous volcano near Lake Toya. Originally Toya is a caldera (Toya caldera) of a huge volcano which errupted several times leaving a lake(Toya Lake) in the middle. Toya caldera and the Usu volcano area is now a recognized geopark. It is one of the first geoparks of Japan to be nominated as a Global Geopark.

Take the cable car to the top of Mount Usu to enjoy a beautiful view of Toya caldera. A calm and  picturesque view point is situated at the top.





The area around Mount Usu is still have many terrestrial movements. This area is called [Ever Changing Earth] as the geological features are changed very often due to the reasons such as formation of new lava mountains, new craters etc. This is a photograph of the crater of Mount Usu which was formed when it erupted nearly 25 years back.

Walk along the path to the crater for a better view of sea, Toya caldera and Mount Usu caldera. Visitors can reach the very edge of the crater at their own risk.




The following photograph of Mount. Showa-shinzan meaning Showa New Mountain was formed very recently in 1944 at one of such geological change. This was originally formed by the ground being lifted up to 250m.  Then a lava dome was formed over it by the eruption of Mount Usu which raised it s height to a good 400m. It is said that recently it has shrunk a little in height as the lava had started to cool down.



Thank you Amilendra, Danuka, Pasanga, Patali, Mahesh and Hasani for the beautiful road trip across Hokkaido. It is one of the best experiences ever.

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