3 discoveries
A steaming red-and-ochre volcanic crater that fuels Hokkaido's most famous hot-spring town, watched over by cheerful demon statues who are basically the local mascots.
A sulfur-belching volcanic wasteland Buddhists call the gateway to the afterlife, scattered with stone cairns, red pinwheels spinning for dead children, and a milky-blue 'lake of paradise.'
On a steaming sulfur field in Nasu sits a legendary rock said to hold the spirit of a murderous nine-tailed fox — and which famously cracked in two in 2022, prompting half-joking fears the demon escaped.
