Shiga-Kusatsu Road (Route 292) before winter closure

At 2,172 meters, this is the highest point on Japan's national road network, and you can drive all the way up from Kusatsu. Even the plateau under Kusatsu Onsen was laid down by a huge pyroclastic flow from Mt. Shirane some 300,000 to 350,000 years ago.

Past Tenguyama Gate, the road heads toward Shirane. The white, bare slopes near its summit date from an 1882 eruption; before that the mountain is said to have been forested. Near the Yugama sightseeing lot, Kusatsu Town asks drivers not to wait or stop on the highway. Past the junction where the road to Manza branches off, you reach Shibu Pass on the Nagano border. The national transport ministry notes it lets you see tree-line scenery by car rather than on foot.

Beyond the pass, on the Mt. Yokote side, you can look back at Mt. Shirane. The road is part of the 200 km Asama–Shirane–Shiga Sawayaka Kaido, which runs from Karuizawa to Yamanouchi, so you can carry on over the border and down into Shiga Kogen.