Jododaira

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

JododairaBandai-Azuma SkylineAzuma-KofujicraterFukushima City

Fukushima · Fukushima City

37.7234°N, 140.2543°E

Getting the most out of Jododaira is less about the destination than about timing the light right.

The Bandai-Azuma Skyline climbs from Fukushima City into the Azuma volcanic range and tops out at Jododaira, 1,600 metres up, where the trees give out and the ground turns to grey ash and lava. The road is free; the car park is not. Around it are three separate walks that leave from the same place.

Azuma-Kofuji, the little Mt. Fuji, is a perfect ash cone with a crater 500 metres across — ten minutes up a stepped path to the rim and about an hour to walk right round it. Issaikyo-yama, opposite, is an active vent that steams continuously and leads to Goshiki-numa, a cobalt crater lake known as the Magic Eye. The road is closed by snow from roughly mid-November to mid-April, and volcanic alert levels can close sections at any time.

What to know before you go

Access hours

Skyline open roughly mid-April to mid-November | Daylight driving recommended

Closed: Closed by snow from around mid-November to mid-April | Closures at short notice for volcanic activity and weather

When to go

Late April–early May for the snow corridor | Late September–October for autumn colour

Fee

Free road | Parking ¥500 per car, ¥200 motorcycle, ¥1,000 microbus, ¥2,000 large coach

Time to allow

2–3 hours

Making the trip

Getting there in detail

On the Bandai-Azuma Skyline in the mountains above Fukushima City. The Skyline is free to drive but is closed by snow from around mid-November to mid-April, reopening in the second half of April. Jododaira car park charges ¥500 for a car, ¥200 for a motorcycle, ¥1,000 for a microbus and ¥2,000 for a large coach, with about 300 paved spaces and roughly 400 more on an unpaved overflow lot. Azuma-Kofuji is about 10 minutes up a stepped path from the car park, with about an hour to circle the crater rim. A seasonal bus runs from Fukushima Station.

Beyond the guidebook

**Check the volcanic alert level before setting out.** Issaikyo-yama is active and steams continuously; sections of trail and road close at short notice when the level is raised. The Skyline itself also shuts for weather outside winter. **Ten minutes to the crater rim.** Azuma-Kofuji is the shortest genuinely spectacular climb in Tohoku — stepped path from the car park to a 500 m crater. The full rim circuit takes about an hour and is exposed the whole way. **Take a windproof layer whatever the forecast says.** At 1,600 metres on an open ash cone the wind is a different proposition from the valley, in every month. **Goshiki-numa on Issaikyo is not the Goshiki-numa most people mean.** That name also belongs to the pond walk at Bandai; this one is a cobalt crater lake reached by a longer, harder route from Jododaira. **Go early for the road, not just the light.** The Skyline is a well-known drive and the car park fills on fine autumn weekends. Autumn colour runs from around late September at this altitude, weeks before the lowland.

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