Inside the “Cauldron”
There’s more to Lake Towada than meets the eye. It is no ordinary lake, but rather sits in the caldera of a volcano. Its origins stretch back 13,000 years to when the Towada Volcano erupted, and the ensuing collapse of volcanic material resulted in a concave depression referred to as a caldera. The word “caldera” comes from the Spanish word for “cauldron” or “cooking pot.” What do you think? Does the Towada Caldera look like a water-filled pot to you? The water that collected in the caldera formed Lake Towada—but, that isn’t the end of the story. Volcanic activity continued, and a second, smaller volcano formed inside the main one. The walls of this smaller caldera rise up from the lake and form the Nakayama Peninsula and the Ogura Peninsula.