Sakurajima Volcano

Sakurajima is an active stratovolcano in Kagoshima Bay in southern Kyushu, one of Japan's most dramatic volcanoes and still visibly puffing ash over the city of Kagoshima. The island was physically connected to the Ōsumi Peninsula by a lava flow in 1914, and its obsidian-black lava landscapes are explored on foot and by bicycle. The contrast between the volcano's raw destructive power and the human communities living on its slopes is one of the most compelling natural experiences in Japan.