Born from a volcanic eruption around 2,000 years ago, Japan’s mysterious Mashu-ko, or Lake Mashu, located on the island of Hokkaido, is rumoured to be one of the clearest lakes in the world.

Japan is most often associated with images ... All routes in the park are rewarding, but if you can only hike one, choose Lake Mashu. A caldera lake, Mashu has no connecting waterways; it's ...

Still, without hesitation, and a massive bag of Benadryl in my suitcase, I flew to Tokyo (Hanada Airport) to meet up with a group that would be traveling through East Hokkaido for a week. While we saw ...