Next time a mountain appears out of nowhere, listen to it.

Cool geological phenomenon and awesome story to go with it! Overall highly satisfied with this post.

I give it a 5/7.

7 out of 5 you mean?

Planning a Japan vacation for next year...I'll admit I've watched anime since I was young, and have studied Japan & Japanese some, so I know many of the cultural differences though I frequently lack an understanding as to why some things are so different.

I've been told by tourists and natives alike that I should splurge on a night at a nice onsen & ryokan (hotsprings inn), so it seems like the kind of thing the Japanese associate with a luxurious vacation...which coming from a region of nonexistent volcanic activity, volcanic public baths are about as foreign an idea as my wife is willing to try. I happened to visit yellowstone this past year and it has clarified a lot of this: living on a fucking volcano means living on an alien goddamn planet. Why the fuck would anyone settle there, much less continue in a modern era? Not sure if it answered or raised more questions.

It’s like 70% mountains not a lot of choice there. Kawaguchiko is a nice place to insensitivity it up. It’s a lake that overlooks Mount Fuji. (One of a few)

Thanks for the tip. We were looking at Hakone for a day or two of hiking between visiting Tokyo & Osaka, and it sounds like Kawaguchiko is in that same area...we don't have much more than a week so we know we'll be limited in what we have time to see. As a bit of a culinary tourist I plan to hit different regions of Japan in later trips, though the wife will insist on some other destinations for at least a few years in between (I know Prague is the following year).

Do you mind sharing your volcanic public baths with a lot of smelly macaques?

If the timing is right, there is no better fucking feeling in the world than sitting in an outdoor onsen when it's snowing- like after skiing/snowboarding.

I would be worried about the snow and wind when I had to get out.

And the smelly macaques.

edit that might be an unfair assumption. The macaques bathe regularly.

Also look up Tom the Fish (if he is still here) for suggestions maybe.

*onsen it up

1943 seems to have been a break-out year, so to speak...
https://mashable.com/2017/06/24/eruption-of-paricutin/#qjHkksTIfOqw