I’ve spent the last two days hiking around the Aso crater and home to one of (the?) most active Japanese volcanoes. The crater is a 30000 year old caldera that was once filled with water, but an earthquake put a dent into the crater’s rim so the water could flow out. Don’t qoute me on that.

Any geological history aside, the place is home to some wonderful hiking trails. In the middle of the crater sits a collection of mountains. The Eboshi-dake and Kishima-dake are accessible from the parking lot at the volcanic museum. The Taka-dake and Naka-dake are best climbed from the northern side of the mountain range. All trails boast a stunning panorama view the entire time.

day 1

On the first day I’ve explored the area around the volcano museum and climbed the Eboshi-dake. The immediate surroundings of the parking lot at the museum are full of tourists (and horses) As soon as you start veering of onto an actual hiking trail you are basically alone. The ascend trip to Eboshi-Dake and back took maybe around two hours.

ResizedImage_2026-03-06_09-51-31_0873 Probably some kind of special horse breed. Don’t know anything about horses. It was big though.

day 2

On the second day I’ve climbed the Taka-dake and Naka-dake from the north. There are two options available. The easy route going up an old road along an abandoned ropeway and the hard route going up a mountain trail. I’ve went up the mountain trail and down the old road. The ascend turned out to be very enjoyable. Some easy walking mixed in with steep sections and parts where the use of hands is recommended. At any time you could turn around and enjoy the incredible panorama. You have a great view on the surrounding mountain ranges, especially the crater’s rim. During the second half of the ascend you start smelling sulfur. A reminder that this is stil an active volcano you are climbing. After reaching the top of Taka-dake the exhausting part is done. Now it is time to enjoy the walk atop of the ridge between Taka-dake and Naka-dake. Reaching Naka-dake gives you a good viewing point into the actual Naka-dake crater, which spews out smoke constantly.

ResizedImage_2026-03-06_15-23-01_5045 *Naka-dake panorama view. *

The descend down along the abandoned ropeway is relatively quick, but annoying as the steps are extremely uneven and very steep. Definitely the right choice though, as any other way down would have been way longer and way more exhausting. The entire trip took around 6 hours.

ResizedImage_2026-03-06_15-28-59_2699 *Abandoned ropeway support towers. Alongside a path with questionable surface quality. *

The are not a lot of western tourists on Kyuushuu. If you want to meet some just step onto a hiking trail and it won’t take long. Most other people on the trails were foreigners. I’ve encountered two Japanese guys one the trail. One seemed like an experienced hiker going down the mountain trail. My respects for being able to do that. The other guy was going up the old ropeway pathway up to the Naka-dake crater viewing point. He was streaming on TikTok the entire time! As the ropeway is visible from some parts of the ridgeline I was walking on I could here him talk to his chat at times. After meeting him at the crater viewing point and talking to him for a bit I offered him some of my water as he didn’t bring any and was thirsty. He showed me his stream and I very briefly was part of it. My first appearances on the internet. Yay.

ResizedImage_2026-03-07_10-35-55_6712 *Naka-dake crater view. Smells. *

Written during breakfast at the hotel at Aso