Mt. Aso

The order of our trip away with Mum is probably getting a little bit higgledy piggledy, but I think the next thing we did after the cool ravine was go to the opposite extreme and go and look into the craters of an active volcano - Mt. Aso (which I've just discovered is the largest active volcano in Japan - glad it has some claim to fame!). It was good for the kids to be able to see the volcano at such close range and be able to try and explain to them how the surrounding area was formed etc. I don't think they really got it though and were more worried about how we would escape if it decided to erupt then and there. We were just trying to reassure them that they have such sophisticated monitoring equipment that they would know well in advance and we could escape without any problem when the loudspeakers started blaring out that the gas levels had just risen dramatically and it was necessary for everyone to leave the basin area. We had done enough peering into the craters anyway so it was a quick trip back down the mountain to "safety".
The area around the volcano is really nice - very green and open. I think it is worth the trip if you are in the area....