As we were unable to really visit Mt. Aso in February due to the then still closed rim walk because of the eruption and destruction of 2015 / 2016 we were quite happy to discover that now at least parts were opened again. So our trip went there to explore.

The country is rough and beautiful…

You can drive all the way up to the crater rim

for some 400 JPY and then park alongside the other tourists. Fortunately the weather was not that good and it was quite late in the year – no idea what goes on in August or July. Well, this year with all the typhoons (actually the last one was over just a day ago…) it was not fun either

alongside the as they say „temporary damaged“ rope-way – to me this looks rather final, but don’t let us argue about intricate details…

Quite a lot of eruption dust gathered

So they removed the dirt, created a new fence

and sell the old souvenir stuff again. I just wonder which chemical factory they get it from – in this pure form sulphur almost never occurs – at least not in these amounts…

Ahhh – the caldera lake. As the volcano is still (very much) active the warning for the hazardous gases goes all the time from 1 to 4 up and down. The lake is nicely bubbling at the bottom

Amazing colours

And more steam

No wonder they tell people with asthma, heart conditions, etc. should stay away. It’s a pretty lethal cocktail which makes you dizzy. That was a big one again

Different layers of eruptions

You could walk the whole rim in the past – now everything is off limit (quite for sure for good). Last time we did it (some 5 years ago) ladies had high heels, flip flops, etc. – very proper footwear for a volcano hike

Around 200 m of crater wall

Again these colours

Alongside the crater are several more and in between used to be a meadow. Used to… Now it’s a barren landscape full of small ash / sand

With bizarre openings ot other calderas

The flying rocks are hot – so they burn the wooden walkway

And can get quite big as well as fast. Actually these „bombs“ can be flying several kilometers

And disintegrate over time

and time, and time, and time…

until they are just dust again

the black ground is a nice background

This sign perhaps told „beware of flying rocks“??

Colours…

and a last view from the distance

on the way down you can see an almost perfect volcano

The sunlight was so nice…

backdrop…

There is the beauty in full

And as usual people settle in these calderas as they are among the most fertile places on earth…

and the most dangerous – if you imagine the force creating this caldera with around 40 km diameter

quite impressive…