Mount Aso is located at the center of
Aso-Kuju National Park in Kumamoto and
Oita, which lies roughly in the center of
Kyushu. The mountain is a typical complex
volcano composed of an outer rim with a
total circumferential length of 128
kilometers, a caldera (circular volcanic
basin) with three municipals inside, and
five mountains (Aso Gotake) on the central
plateau, including the active Mt. Naka-
dake.
Many hot spring villages, including
Tarutama, Jigoku, Aso, and Yunotani, are
located inside and outside Aso-Kuju
National Park. The Aso Uchinomaki-onsen-
kyo Hot Spring Village, with more than 100
hot springs, is the largest among them.
The 1,506-meter-high summit of Mt. Naka-
dake, one of the major volcanoes of the
world, where the air is filled with the
smell of sulfur, can be reached by a
ropeway and car. It is the sole place in
Japan where tourists at the summit can
take a close-range look at the dynamic
fumes rising from the crater, which
extends about one kilometer north and
south and about four kilometers east and
west. Since it is an active volcano,
shelter dugouts are provided around the
crater. Pictures of the interior of the
crater taken with two TV cameras at the
crater can be seen, under the viewer's
control with push buttons, in the Aso
Volcano Museum. Kusasenri, covered with
volcanic ash, is located on the northern
mountainside of Mt. Eboshi-dake, where you
can relax while seeing cows and horses
grazing or by riding a horse (accompanied
by an instructor).
