Back at QKamura we had another big buffet breakfast. Emily crawled over to visit the other small children present, and Nick says that one little girl bowed to her! We got ourselves ready quickly afterwards and set off south-west. It was another bright day of blue sky and light clouds with a cool breeze. Our route took us clockwise around Lake Shikotsuko. Unfortunately there were too many trees between road and shore for us to get a clear view, but we got glimpses of Eniwa-san from time to time. Leaving the lake we turned down a valley with steep sides covered in deciduous trees. There were lots of rust and bronze leaves, rather than the flame-red of maple trees. The stony river bed we were following looked ideal habitat for bears. Near our destination we passed some apple orchards laden with scrumptious-looking red apples, and there were some grape vines too.
Sooner than expected we saw Use-san looming ahead. Beside it was its parasitic mini-volcano Showa-Shinzan, which suddenly rose up 400m in 1943-5 from flat fields. 
Both had steaming fumeroles, indicating the huge power beneath the surface. Showa is very red in colour, Use-san has a crown of jagged rocks torn by forces beyond comprehension. It last blew in 1978, reshaping the top with a new crater.
We found our way to the cable car station and hopped aboard the next one bound for the upper station. The 5 minute trip whisked us 1300m up to a flat area below the serrated cone. Nick was disappointed that visitors can't scramble up the loose stones to the top. Instead we took the path going left, to a viewing platform with fine 180 degree views back to Shikotsuko and across to the coast. At first we thought that we were looking at the northernmost coast of Honshu, but realised after a while that it must be further down Hokkaido. There was plenty of high ground there; we hadn't realised there was much in the way of mountains in the south part of the island.
We changed our plans so that we could continue on the path around the crater rim. This involved descending 600 steps first: hard on the knees if not the lungs. There were lots of wild flowers softening the harsh blighted landscape, with its dead trees and steaming vents. There were also loads of dragonflies, though we couldn't see any water to attract them. We stopped at a shelter to change and feed Emily, then Mum turned back. We carried on so that we could get a better view of the new crater, and sight of the near-perfect cone of Yotei-san (Ezo-Fuji). 
It was great to walk with hardly anyone else around, and on a high ridge with no tree cover to hide the views. I felt the happiest I've been in ages.
It was one hell of a slog back up the steps, but a nice way to get tired, if you know what I mean. We let Emily have a welcome break from the carrier to crawl on the grass (removing leaves, sticks and grass from her grasp, of course).
Back at the bottom of the ropeway we had a passable late lunch then set off home.
We'd ordered the more expensive 'push-the-boat-out' kaiseki (high cuisine) dinner for our last night. I'd been worrying about what delicacies we'd be served, but apart from some chicken, I got off lightly. The extra cost seemed to have gone into the presentation, with lots of effort going into the sculpting and decorating of individual ingredients.
I managed a whole prawn, and more sashimi. The savoury egg custard (chawan mushi) was very good. Nick and I tried some haskap, which seems to be some kind of plum liqueur, then sake, liberally poured into a wooden box until it overflows.
Back in Mum's room we compared haiku that we'd each composed:
Mine:
Hokkaido autumn
Bright sparks from Hell's anvil fly
Rowan leaves a-fire
Nick's:
Great mountains aflame
Fire burns within and without
Emotions erupt
Mum's:
Flaming bushes burn
High rocks heated by earth's fire
Reflect each other
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