The mountain was discovered by a local postman Masao Mimatsu who had purchased the land for farms but it eventually formed a peak and changed to a volcano. It is hard to believe that a fertile flat land changed to a volcano, but when you think on the bright side, few people possess a private volcano in their backyard.
Despite the unfortunate Masao Mimatsu’s incident, he does not blame the nature and instead he spent his own time to document the growth of the volcano. Today, it has become a tourist destination and visitors can take a cable car up Mt Usu for a panoramic view of Showa Shinzan.
You may able to see the various types of material of measuring the grow of volcano including the detail record documented by Masao Mimatsu at Volcano Memorial Museum located at Showa Shinzan.
Fees for the cable car to ride on top of Mt. Usu is around 1,500 yen per person for round trip and it takes about 6 min to get to the top.
Upon arrival to the cable car station on your right side, there is an observation deck that allows you to see Showa Shinzan and Lake Toya far below.
On your left side, take a 15 min walk and pass by Usu crater basin observation deck, you will reach the largest existing craters “The Ginnuma crater”.
Far away from the observation deck, you will able to see the Pacific Ocean on the horizon if the weather condition is good.
Location: 184-5 Aza Takino-cho, Sobetsu-cho, Usu-gun, Hokkaido
Opening hours: 08:00 till 18:00 (May vary during Winter)
Access: 15 min. from JR Toyako Station by Donan Bus bound for Toyako Onsen and
drop off at the Toyako Onsen Bus Terminal. Then change to Donan Bus bound for Showa Shinzan and drop off at the last stop.
Map:
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