Fukushima Trip

We took a trip up north about 2.5 hours last weekend to Fukushima. We specifically went to see the Goshikinuma, which are the 5 colored ponds, and Mt Azuma. Mount Azuma is nicknamed Kofuji, or Little Fuji, because its shaped like Mount Fuji, but its only half as tall. So you can hike up and look into the caldera of the volcano easily. Really you drive up 90% of the way, park, then walk for about 10 minutes.

We drove up on Saturday morning to check into our lodge. We made a pitstop at a roadside rest for pee and snacks.

On the drive up we approached Mount Bandai. You couldn’t really see the top, but it was still pretty cool from this angle. This mountain is kind of the main attraction of the area. Its huge. And you’ll see more of it below.

We rented an Airbnb, which was a private little lodge. We asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was, and they said, “the lodge”. It was a tiny little shack with no beds, but it was clean and cozy!

After we checked in and put our stuff away, we got right down to business. We had a lot to do and only 2 days to do it. First we went out to find some lunch. We drove out into the hills and found a cute little European style cafe. The kids had spaghetti and the adults had sandwiches. We all got dessert of course.

After that we headed up to Mount Azuma (Little Fuji). The drive up was almost as awesome as the top, itself. We had to stop and get out of the car a few times just to take a look down at the world. It was just an amazing site.

Once we got to the parking lot near the top of Mount Azuma, we were surrounded by a completely different landscape. We basically popped out above the clouds onto this plateau. It smelled like sulphur, you could see sulphur steam coming out of the side of one mountain, there was a flat marshland to walk across on a boardwalk, and you could look down at the clouds below us. We decided to go pee of course and walk around at the base of the mountain for a few minutes.

After that we finally made the climb up the mountain and reached the rim of the caldera. It was pretty easy and their weren’t many people at all.

When we first got to the top, it was great weather. Calm and warm and easy to walk around and look at rocks. We actually started to walk around the entire rim. But after about 5 minutes, the wind got crazy! I would guess around 60mph. The kids couldn’t stand by themselves and we had to hold them. We even took shelter behind a giant boulder for a few minutes!

We walked back down the mountain to the parking lot level and it was perfect weather again. So we decided to take a walk over the board walks and look at all the pools of liquid? I can’t say if it was water or not, or even what temperature things were. We didn’t get close because we couldn’t really read if anything was dangerous or not.

We found a hidden little pond, with such dense plant life around it, that you couldn’t get to the water. It felt so distant and secluded.

After that we headed back to the car. And right as we got to the car, the wind picked up and clouds filled the area. All of a sudden you couldn’t even see Mount Azuma anymore! The weather was so drastic up there, but awesome. We drove back to our shack for dinner and bed.

That was just day 1. Sunday, we got up and left by 8am to get to the Goshikinuma (五色沼) area. This area was cool because it was created by the volcanic eruption of Mount Bandai in 1888. Remember the picture of Mount Bandai above, hidden by the clouds. That was the front of Mount Bandai. Here is the backside, which is the side that exploded in 1888.

Here is an infographic of how the eruption made the five colored ponds.

So each pond has a different chemical mixture and it makes the water different in each one. Its about a 2 mile hike maybe to see all of them. So we started at one end and walked to the other to see all 5!

First off was Ao Numa Pond. Ao means blue in Japanese, so its appropriate.

Next was Ruri Numa Pond.

Next was Benten Numa Pond

And Aka Numa Pond. Aka means red in Japanese. This one gets its name from the red colored roots that hang down in the water.

Finally we have Bishamon Numa Pond. It is the biggest of the 5 and it sits below Mount Bandai. You can even rent a row boat for 30 minutes to cruise around on. Which we did. Don’t let the photos fool you, I was scared to death. I’m not a fan of water as it is. Then having some creepy colored water over 100 feet deep below me. I couldn’t wait to get out of that boat.

We originally planned to make another stop after that in an old trade post town with grass roofs, but we just ran out of time. We’ll have to do that next time! It was a full weekend for sure!