aso kumamoto from yasu4920 on Vimeo.

Feeling quite nostalgic of the time I was in Japan. This is a scene of the volcano area of Aso in Kuamoto. The Japanese islands are laced with volcanoes, some thunderously active and others not. Of these, the majestic -- and dormant -- Mt. Fuji draws by far the most attention. Yet, an hour and a half by plane south of Tokyo lies another volcano that has been too long removed from the eyes of foreign tourists.

Mt. Aso sits in the center of Japan's southern island of Kyushu and is merely this: the largest volcano on earth!

Aso's volcanic rim stretches 128 km in circumference, and it was here that the island of Kyushu first bubbled up from the sea. The gigantic crater has been dead since time immemorial, but inside stand several other volcanic peaks, one of which is still very alive.