Lake Mashu, Hokkaido

Lake Mashu is said to be the most beautiful of the lakes in Hokkaido. The lake has an impenetrable deity, and from Ainu people there is a mysterious space called “Kamui Toh” (lake of God).
Lake Mashu is a caldera lake formed by volcanic activity about 7,000 years ago. Floating in the approximate center of the lake, Kamuishu Island (Nakajima) is actually a lava dome with a relative height of 210 meters.
From the direction of Lake Kussharo, passing through Kawayu Hotsprings Resort, and running along a winding road, a deep blue lake will appear suddenly. This is the misty and mysterious Lake Mashu.
The area around the lake is designated as a special protected area, and development activities and access to cars and ships are strictly regulated. For this reason, Lake Mashu sightseeing only enjoys the view from the observation deck. However, it is a must-see sight of beauty called “Mashu Blue”, which boasts the highest transparency Japan.
Lake Mashu has high transparency and is very deep (maximum depth of 212 meters), so it is thought that such a distinctive blue color will appear.
In fact, the color of the shore of Lake Mashu seen in summer is greenish blue. The cold season is more transparent than summer, and the blue that floats in the white world is more visible visually.
The moment when such Lake Mashu becomes even more mysterious comes in winter. That is half ice of Lake Mashu. Lake Mashu is in the freezing season every year from the end of January to about February 20. The way of freezing varies depending on the year. There is not the same thing as once. Depending on the day, it may change from morning to afternoon. It freezes from the shore side, it becomes completely mottled, and it snows during freezing.
Lake Mashu in late January and February has relatively stable weather and many fine days. There is a synonym of “Lake Mashu in the mist”, but Lake Mashu in this period has almost no occurrence of fog. However, even in the daytime, there are days with a temperature of about -5 ° C.

It features unique blue called “Mashu Blue”

Lake Mashu is the lake in Teshikaga-cho, Hokkaido which is proud of eminent transparency in the world. It is the leading tourist resort chosen as the Hokkaido inheritance. It features unique blue called “Mashu Blue” and can look at the lake of the deep blue from Lake Mashu observation deck.
It is the caldera lake surrounded by the about 300-400 meters cliff in the circumference. It is located in the Akan National Park with the Akan lake and the Kussharo lake. A caldera is a depressed ground made by a volcano, and many of the lake which water collected there has deep depth of water. Lake Mashu is no exception, and it is said that the maximum depth of the water is approximately 212 meters.

No.1 beautiful blue surface and highly transparent lake of Japan

Since this Lake Mashu does not have a river adjacent to it, it has almost no inflow of the organic matter from the outside. Moreover, through one year, since water temperature is low, it is in environment also without breeding of a microbe etc.
The “No.1 beautiful blue surface and highly transparent lake of Japan” was born because such conditions overlapped.
By the way, the lake having world’s highest transparency is Russian Lake Baikal now, but Lake Mashu had become the world’s No.1 temporarily.

The summit portion of the lava dome

The small island near a center is the Kamuish island (center island). This island is the lava dome of the height which exceeds 210 meters from the bottom of the lake, and it is said that the summit portion has come out to the surface of the lake.

Figure suitable for calling an unparalleled view

This is around Lake Mashu where is in condition to have frozen to a twig of trees by a hoarfrost phenomenon. This is a beautiful figure caught only at severe winter time.
The surface of a lake of this time becomes colored sapphire blue as divine beauty, and the complete view serves as a figure suitable for calling it an unparalleled view.

The way an angel or a fairy gets down

The “sun pillar” is a natural phenomenon to be rarely seen in Hokkaido. In the air, the pillar of light appears suddenly. The divine light looks just like the way to which an angel or a fairy gets down from heavens.

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