As I write this, I am sitting in a hostel in a town located in the caldera of the largest active volcano, in Japan, one of the largest in the world. This is Mount Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu. We drove up the volcano within the caldera this afternoon and peered into its steaming mouth, one of the most active craters in the world. It was steaming out white and blue gas, from a crater that was filled with jade-green boiling water, and the whole place smelt of sulfur dioxide. It was nothing short of amazing and unimaginable and deserted and colourful and wonderful.
We were pretty lucky since there was no problem going up to the mouth of the crater. Apparently some days the gas emitted from the volcano is so bad that the roads up to the top are blocked off. I guess my 'bad luck' ran out when I dropped my lens cap into the raging rapids of Takachiho Gorge this morning.
That's another story. For another time.
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