Come Away with Me

Kumamoto Day 2- The Venerable Mount Aso

Mount Aso, or more commonly referred to as Aso-san (阿蘇山) is the largest ACTIVE volcano in Japan and among the largest in the world. Simply, Mt. Aso is to the people in Kyushu what Mt. Fuji is to the Japanese. I was recommended by colleagues and other locals to check out Aso-san if i have the chance. Even though i am not much of a geography person to begin with, i figure it should be worth a trip.

An erruption that took place many years ago created a huge caldera, 25km across north to south and 18km across east to west. Its circumference is estimated between 80km and 120km (yes i know it's hard to imagine the size but trust me it's really huge!). If you are like me who had no idea what a caldera is, dictionary.com defines it as a large, basinlike depression resulting from the explosion or collapse of the center of a volcano. And this basinlike depression is actually home to roughly 100,000 people spreading over dozens of towns and villages, that is just how BIG the caldera is!



While on our way up to see the volcanic crater, we were informed that the ropeway to the top of the mountain was temporarily out of service due to high volume of volcanic gas emission. We decided to get off the bus at Kusasenri, the last stop before reaching the ropeway station where we spent the afternoon idling at various souvenir shops sampling foodstuff, snapping pictures and just taking in the magnificent scenery around the area.

Even though it was only early Autumn, it was cold enough for us to put on our jackets. The view behind us is 10 times nicer in real life!



We couldn't take enough pictures at the place =)



Crazy guy started doing push-up as the air was so good he felt he needed some exercise there and then :P

Refusing to get up after i said we needed to move along to somewhere else!







Our patience and the wondering around Kusasenri paid off as it finally stopped emitting fumes and the toxic gas level was deemed safe enough for visitors once more.
It was definitely worth the wait when we saw what was waiting for us when we reached the top of the mountain!

The bubbling crater was a sight to behold! Come to think of it, that was really the first time i've seen a volcano crater and an active one to boot.And Alvin won't stop asking me what will happen if it were to errupt there and then? What do you think???


Volcanic ash and rock formation? Sorry i have no idea what i am talking abt when it comes to physical geo!

posted by テレサ @ 3:05 PM