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Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
Right next to Mt. Usu, one of Japan's most active volcanoes; you can see what happened to buildings, cars, roads, etc., when a volcano erupts. A near-circular lake 10 km in diameter, Lake Toya is famed for the clarity of its water, and it never freezes in winter thanks to the geothermal activity of the region. Along with nearby Lake Shikotsu, it forms a part of the Shikotsu-Toya National Park. This is a caldera lake, the remains of a very large volcanic eruption that has hollowed out ground, where the water is highly mineral rich.
Lake Tōya is a volcanic caldera lake in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Abuta District, Hokkaido, Japan. It is part of "Toya Caldera and Usu Volcano Global Geopark" which joins in Global Geoparks Network. The stratovolcano of Mount Usu lies on the southern rim of the caldera. The lake is nearly circular, being 10 km (6.2 mi) in diameter from the eastwest and 9 km (5.6 mi) from the northsouth. The town of Tōyako comprises most of the area surrounding the lake and the town of Sōbetsu is located on the eastern side.
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