Lake Kizaki

Operated by Omachi city, this camera looks over Lake Kizaki — the southernmost and largest of the Nishina Three Lakes strung along the valley north of the town.

The three lakes sit in a line for a geological reason. They lie along the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line, the fault that marks the western edge of the Fossa Magna and effectively divides eastern from western Japan. The valley the lakes occupy is that fault made visible.

Kizaki is a working recreational lake — swimming and boating in summer, fishing much of the year — and it sits directly on the road toward Hakuba, so it is often the first real view of mountain country for people heading north. The surrounding slopes turn well in autumn and the lake holds ice at the edges in hard winters.