What you can see on the Kuttara cam
Jigokudani is one of the most active-looking places on this site even though the volcano has not erupted in tens of thousands of years: a bare valley of pale grey ground stained rust and ochre by iron and sulphur, with steam rising from its vents. The amount of visible steam changes with the air temperature rather than with the volcano, so the valley is at its most dramatic on a cold morning and almost calm on a warm afternoon. In autumn the wooded hills around it take on colour.
Steam vents and sulphur-stained ground in the valley
Looking down into Jigokudani, the camera takes in the whole bare valley at once. The floor is pale grey and white, broken up by mounds and channels, with patches of rust and ochre where iron and sulphur colour the ground. Steam rises from vents in the middle of the valley. On the right a steep, eroded slope of orange and brown rock climbs to the rim, with a path along its foot and a small structure beside it; wooded hills close the view at the top, and a signpost stands in the grass in the foreground.
Hot water from this valley feeds the springs of Noboribetsu Onsen, a few minutes below. The steam depends on the air temperature more than on the volcano, so the frame is busiest on a cold morning.
A dead volcano with a very live plumbing system
Kuttara's last magmatic eruption was around forty thousand years ago and nothing suggests another. What survives is the heat: rainwater sinks into the old volcanic rock, is heated at depth and comes back up through Jigokudani at around 80 degrees, carrying sulphur, iron and salts with it. That water is the whole reason Noboribetsu exists. The town below the valley takes nine different kinds of spring water from it, which is unusual anywhere, and it has been a bathing destination since the nineteenth century.
When to watch Kuttara
Japan is nine hours ahead of UTC all year. The steam shows best when the air is cold, so winter mornings are the most striking, and autumn brings colour to the trees around the bare ground. Summer afternoons are the flattest time to look.
Around Kuttara
Noboribetsu Onsen is a few minutes below the valley, with a boardwalk that runs out into Jigokudani itself. Lake Kuttara is a short drive over the ridge, and Mount Usu and Lake Tōya are about an hour west.
Visiting Kuttara
The boardwalk into Jigokudani is open, free and level, and continues to Ōyunuma, a steaming pond, and to a natural foot bath in the stream below it. Stay on the path: the crust is thin off it and the water is scalding.
