Bandai Highland and Urabandai Eco Museum

The volcanic highlands north of Mt. Bandai in central Fukushima Prefecture constitute one of Japan's most remarkable post-eruption landscapes — a territory born in a single day in 1888 when the mountain's north flank collapsed in a lateral blast, burying villages, damming rivers, and creating over 300 new lakes and ponds across the Urabandai plateau in a matter of minutes. Today, 135 years after the catastrophe, this landscape has been thoroughly reclaimed by nature into a mosaic of forests, wetlands, and crystalline lakes of exceptional beauty — and the Urabandai Eco Museum system helps visitors understand and appreciate this extraordinary geological and ecological story.

Highlights

The Eco Museum concept — pioneered in France and adapted here with particular success — positions the entire Urabandai landscape as an open-air museum, with satellite facilities (field houses) distributed across the plateau to interpret different aspects of the ecosystem. Each field house focuses on a specific theme: the volcanic geology, the wetland ecology, the forest succession, or the cultural heritage of the buried and rebuilt villages.

The Goshikinuma (Five-Colored Ponds) nature trail is the most visited component — a 4-kilometer walk past ponds of blue, green, brown, and turquoise water colored by different volcanic minerals. Lake Hibara, the largest Urabandai lake, offers boat rental and fishing. The Bandai-Azuma Skyline toll road provides aerial perspectives on the volcanic landscape from above.

Wildlife is abundant: marsh harriers, reed warblers, and mandarin ducks inhabit the wetlands; bears, deer, and Japanese serow move through the surrounding forest.

Getting There & Tips

Access by bus from Inawashiro Station or by rental car from Koriyama. The Eco Museum's main visitor center is near the Goshikinuma parking area. Maps and guides available in English. The area is largely inaccessible November through April.

Best Time to Visit

May–October for open roads and full access. October is spectacular for autumn foliage — the multi-colored ponds surrounded by red and gold leaves create Urabandai's most iconic scenes.