Project 365..... Pic 23 Mount Asama is erupting!!!!

I will post my other 365 pics later. For now, I just HAD to share this!!!! No, that isn't snow or frost on my car. Its volcanic ash! Mount Asama is about 65 miles from here. Its Northwest of Tokyo.


Japan’s Mount Asama Erupts, Spreading Ash on Tokyo

By Takahiko Hyuga and Tak Kumakura

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Mount Asama volcano in central Japan erupted overnight, spreading ash as far as central Tokyo 150 kilometers (93 miles) away.

The volcano had a “small” eruption at 1:51 a.m. local time, throwing rocks up to 1 kilometer, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on its Web site. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

“I woke up after midnight to the sound and shake of the eruption,” Daisuke Tanaka, 24, a convenience-store attendant, who lives about 20 kilometers away from the mountain, said by telephone today. “The sound was as if an airplane was taking off nearby and it continued for 30 minutes.”

The 2,568 meter peak, which last had a minor eruption in August last year, is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan. A major eruption in 1783 killed more than 1,000 people. The meteorological agency yesterday raised its alert level, prohibiting people from entering the area around the volcano, after recording an increase in seismic activity.

Japan has had several major volcanic eruptions in the recent past. Mount Usu on the northern island of Hokkaido erupted in 2000, forcing more than 15,000 residents to evacuate.

In the same year, about 3,000 people were evacuated when Mount Oyama on Miyake Island off Tokyo erupted. And in 1991, 43 people died after an eruption of Mount Unzen on the southern island of Kyushu.

To contact the reporters on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net; Tak Kumakura in Tokyo tkumakura@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 1, 2009 20:04 EST