Hot Times At Mount Aso In Kyushu

Above, the main lobby of the Mount Aso Volcano Museum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Back in 1956, the two Rodans in Rodan met their demise at the Mount Aso volcano.

Today, there are no Rodans flying about, but there are plenty of visitors to Kyushu's Mount Aso Volcano National Park.

The Japan Times has an article on a visit to the park and what visitors can expect to see (weather and volcano permitting).

Here's a snippet:

Across the plateau, tour buses disgorged their passengers at the Aso Volcano Museum. With a yawningly large collection of rocks and limited English signage, it’s not a place all visitors will want to linger. Yet on days when access to the crater is barred for safety reasons, it’s the one place to get a bird’s-eye view of the seismic action. 

Cameras installed around the rim of the Nakadake crater continuously broadcast a live feed to the museum’s massive video screens, giving visitors the only glimpse of the volcano they can get when the wind is blowing the wrong way and poison-gas restrictions are in place. 

Thankfully, nothing was stopping us seeing the crater, and we made the final ascent up the toll road to its rim.

I visited Mount Aso in April 2007. But it may as well have been in the dead of winter as a blizzard was taking place at the time of my visit. Still, it was a fun adventure and it was interesting to see the inside of the volcano caldera on the video screens in the museum.

Above, the blizzard bus ride I took in 2007 at Mt. Aso.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Fortunately, the writer of the article had much better weather to enjoy the park in. To read the article, go here.