John Harvey Photo

Aso Volcano to Oguni Village

Go to Slide Show Smaller Images Getting out town


Selling Sulfur And Film
As much fun as Kumamoto was (and David wanted to stay for a whole week!) we had plans to go see Aso Volcano.  We rented Mark a car, collected everyone up, and drove out of Kumamoto.  The volcano is about an hour out of town (and visible from town) and while the road was busy (it's single lane), once we arrived it wasn't too busy.

The weather in Kumamoto was a little overcast, but once we got to the volcano the fog roled in and we couldn't really see anything, except the large shopping area!   We had lunch waiting for the weather to clear, and tried one of the local delicacies - horse meat.  The person selling the meat (on skewers) made sure we understood this was horse meat - but Andrea pushed on and says its good!)

Us At Volcano
Once the weather got a little better we tried walking up to the volcano.  There is a cable car (400 Yen each way) and you can drive up (1500 Yen per car), but the walking path looked good.

As we walked up, we noticed sirens going off.  Cool.  We kept on walking.  We noticed there were a lot of cars coming down the hill, but not many coming up.  When we we got further up, we found what all the fuss was about - the volcano was giving off a lot of gas and they had evacuated the peak.  Reluctantly, we turned around and walked back down.


Crater With God Rays
Our original goal was to stay in Kurokawa tonight, but it turns out 2 months isn't enough advanced noticed to book a room.  The closest we could find was the next town over (or two) named Oguni Village.  Oguni isn't written up in the guidebook but the web page looked good (and the rates were good) so we booked it.
Oguni Village North

Hotel Nook
The hotel is a 10 story building.  The first story is parking.  The second floor is the foyer.  The third to eight floors are rooms.  Ninth floor is the restaurant, and tenth floor is the bath.  We booked two rooms, and we got the whole eight floor and great views.

Room With View

Water Alley
Oguni is small town built on both side of the river.  The town has plenty of hot springs and plumes of steam rising over various buildings.  Most of the town seems to be set up to service tourists, from the little hotels, to the massive hotel across the river.

Oguni Village South


Crystals On Rusted Pipe
One of my favorite sites in town is a shed at the side of the road where hot water is pooled.  This shed was covered in crystals from where the heated water has evaporated, leaving behind crystals.

Steam ShedCrystals On PipeCorroded Valve
 
 
We had a good evening (horse sashimi was served with dinner) and enjoyed the views from the top floor bath.  The next morning we wandered around town a little and discovered a cute little foot spa.  Relaxed, we got in the car and drove to Kurokawa.
 
Foot Spa

Next: Kurokawa and Takachiho



Corroded Valve
Tags: corrosion, Japan
Water Alley
Tags: alley, hot spring
Crater With God Rays
Tags: crepuscular rays, HDR, Japan, vista
Us At Volcano
Person: Andrea, David, Eric, Gabi, John, Mark, Sean
Location: Go To...
Crystals On Pipe
Tags: corrosion, Japan
Foot Spa
Person: Gabi
Tags: foot bath, hot spring, Japan
Room With View
Tags: Japan, place to stay
Oguni Village North
Location: Go To...
Tags: small town
Crystals On Rusted Pipe
Tags: corrosion, Japan
Hotel Nook
Tags: Japan, place to stay
Selling Sulfur And Film
Tags: Japan, volcanism
Steam Shed
Tags: building, hot spring, Japan, steam
Oguni Village South
Tags: Japan, small town
Tags: Japan(10), corrosion(3), hot spring(3), small town(2), place to stay(2), crepuscular rays(1)
People: Gabi(2), Andrea(1), David(1), Eric(1), John(1), Mark(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Trips out of the Country > A Second Trip to Japan > Aso Volcano to Oguni Village

Leave a Comment

Some HTML allowed: <b>, <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>, but most isn't.  Text length is limited.  comments from first time authors will be reviewed before being posted. comments with swearing or painfully poor spelling will probably be rejected.


Last Modified Saturday, January 21st, 2023 at 23:40:49 Edit
Copyright and Contact Information.