Towacho Roundabout

This camera watches the roundabout at Towacho in central Iida — and the roundabout itself is the reason it is interesting.

Japan has very few of them. Roundabouts were not formally recognised in Japanese traffic law until a 2014 revision, and even now the total nationwide runs to only a few hundred. Iida's is among the better-known examples, partly because the city adopted one early and partly because it sits in the middle of town rather than on a bypass.

So this is a traffic camera with an unusual subject: drivers negotiating a junction type most Japanese motorists rarely encounter. It is also a practical view of central Iida — traffic volume, road surface, and the pace of the town through the day.