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| A warning sign in Jigoku-Dani, Hokkaido (Credit: Copyright Thomas Volstorf/Getty) |
Lesser-known is the isle’s sulfurous, belching and bubbling Jigoku-Dani, or Valley of Hell, a 24-acre geothermal crater that formed from the eruption of Mt Kuttara some 20,000 years ago. Located within Hokkaido’s Shikotsu-Toya National Park, where roiling lava pits and simmering black sulfur calderas quietly lurk under a thick blanket of snow, it certainly might sound like a vision of hell to some. But Jigoku-Dani, 112km south of Sapporo, is also many people’s idea of heaven. It’s home to dozens of onsen (natural hot water baths) that range from simple steamy streams in which travelers can dip their cold toes to modern hot basalt baths where you can meditate over snow falling on bonsai trees.
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