Katta District

Katta District is a rural district in Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, climbing the eastern side of the Zao mountain range. It is highland country of onsen hamlets and volcanic scenery, best known for a crater lake that changes color and an unusual population of foxes.

The Okama Crater holds a lake that shifts hue with the light and season, reached by the Zao Echo Line road, open from spring until the autumn snows close it. Zao Fox Village lets you walk among free-roaming foxes in a forest enclosure, a stop found almost nowhere else in Japan.

Below the peaks, small onsen towns like Togatta offer quiet baths, and winter turns the highlands into ski and snowshoe country. Come by car from Sendai or the Shiroishi shinkansen stop; the crater road rewards a clear-weather day. Autumn colors the whole mountainside in turn.