Seismic Shifts

On a volcanic peninsula in southern Kyushu, innovation keeps tradition alive.

- By Eric Margolis

I WENT MOUNTAIN CLIMBING and sea kayaking on the same day. As precipitously mountainous as Japan is—and as enwrapped as it is by myriad oceans, bays and seas—this is still a rare experience.

But it is possible on the Shimabara Peninsula, home to Unzen National Park. The peninsula, in southwest Japan, is a third of the size of Bangkok and yet hosts a 1,486-metre-high peak, Mt. Unzen, an active volcano that explosively erupted as recently as 1991. From its heights, I looked out over turquoise seas and emerald hills of Japan’s most ancient landscapes, and sought evidence of hidden natural hot-spring vents on the surface of the water.

It takes all of an hour to zip up from sea level to high-altitude launch points. Hence why I could fit in a climb, a sea jaunt, and still had time to soak my feet in a hot-spring footbath while watching the blazing orange sun melt away the western clouds on the horizon.

Nahoko Kato, my tour guide with Unzen Destination Service, tells me that she was drawn to Unzen by the unique sense of living in harmony with nature. “All over the peninsula, you can see steam from the volcano rising like the breath of the earth,” she says. “Every time I look out the door, something divine from within the harshness of nature leaps out at me.”