Japan Guide
Kyūshū
Aso-san
The five peaks of Aso-san line up across the caldera. At the eastern end of the chain lies the distinctively craggy Neko-dake (1433m), while the next peak west is Taka-dake (1592m), the highest of the five summits, and its volcanic offshoot Naka-dake (1506m). West of here lie Eboshi-dake (1337m) and Kijima-dake (1321m). Of the five, only Naka-dake (1323m) is still active; it's really just a gash on the side of Taka-dake, formed by a volcanic explosion which created a secondary peak. Naka-dake's most recent eruptions occurred in the early 1990s, since when it has calmed down considerably, but it's wise to treat the mountain with respect. Notices are posted in the train and bus stations when Naka-dake is closed, but if you plan to do any long-distance walks around the crater it's wise to check at the information office. Note that anyone suffering from asthma or other respiratory problems is advised not to approach the crater rim because of strong sulphur emissions.
Seven daily buses shuttle visitors from the terminal outside Aso Station on a dramatic forty-minute journey up towards the peaks of Aso-san. As the road climbs up to the pass between Kijima-dake and Eboshi-dake, you look down on the perfect cone of Komezuka, the "hill of rice". Turning the other way, you get your first glimpse of Naka-dake's gaping mouth across the grassy bowl of Kusasenri plateau, speckled with shallow crater lakes.
Buses terminate at the foot of Naka-dake in a scruffy area of souvenir shops and restaurants. You can walk up in twenty minutes, or there's a ropeway (daily 9am–5pm; ¥410) running every fifteen minutes or so from the bus terminus up to the crater; though the ropeway looks rather aged, the cables were replaced recently. However you arrive, the multi-coloured rocks and glimpses of a seething grey lake through turbulent, sulphurous clouds of steam are a forbidding sight. Most activity takes place in a hundred-metre-deep crater at the northern end, and this area is strictly off limits. Near the ropeway, however, you can approach the crater lip and then walk south beside barren, dormant craters and across the lava fields.