What you can see on the Tsurumi cam
The Tsurumi group is a cluster of rounded volcanic hills rather than a single peak, and the heat beneath them is what feeds the hot springs of Beppu. Bare, pale patches on the slopes are typical of ground where hot gas comes up, and Garandake's steam vents are monitored continuously.
Two volcanic hills above the Tsukahara plain
The camera at Tsukahara Muda sits between two volcanoes of the Tsurumi group, and its station name, 鶴見岳・伽藍岳（塚原無田）, names both: Tsurumidake and Garandake. A rounded, darker hill rises on the left, with a pale bare patch on its right-hand slope, and a steeper flank climbs out of the frame on the right. Low ground between them closes the bottom of the picture, and most of the frame is sky.
Garandake has steam vents that are monitored continuously; bare, pale ground is typical where hot gas comes up. The heat under these domes feeds the hot springs of Beppu.
More hot water than anywhere else in Japan
Beppu has over two thousand hot spring vents, more than any other place in the country, and they discharge more water than any other Japanese spa town. Eight of them are the «hells», jigoku, which are for looking at rather than bathing in: Umi Jigoku is a pond of clear cobalt blue, Chinoike Jigoku a red one coloured by iron-rich clay. All of it is heat from the dome group above. The last eruption at Tsurumi was in 867 CE, and Garandake has steam vents that are monitored continuously — in 1995 their activity increased enough to be reported, without an eruption following.
When to watch Tsurumi
Cold, clear winter mornings give the sharpest views, and early April puts cherry blossom along the ropeway slope. Japan is nine hours ahead of UTC.
Around Mount Tsurumi
Beppu is on the coast at the foot of the mountain, and Yufuin, a quieter spa town under Yufudake, is twenty minutes inland by train. The Kijima plateau between them has grassland and views back to the bay.
Visiting Mount Tsurumi
A ropeway runs from the edge of Beppu to within ten minutes of the summit, climbing about 800 m in four minutes. From the top the path continues along the ridge towards Garandake.
