Volcano erupts in Japan

[emad]

Snip from London Evening Standard

A volcano has erupted in southern Japan, shaking the nearby area with an explosion and spewing smoke high into the air, an official said.

There were no reports of damage or injuries.

The explosion of Mount Sakurajima registered as "large" on the Meteorological Agency's scale for both the sound and the strength of the tremors it caused, an official at the local agency office in Kagoshima said.

Officials could not tell how high the smoke rose due to cloudy weather, he said.
<snip>
More:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/PA_NEWASGENJapanVolcanoltsat11j?source=

[Minstrel Boy]

1. And AP story last month: "Fuji shows signs of eruption"

New disaster steps eyed as Fuji shows signs of eruption

The Associated Press, April 28

Mount Fuji, the graceful conical volcano that rises within view of the Tokyo metropolitan area, is slowly changing shape and could erupt over a wider area than previously predicted, researchers said Monday.
"It wouldn't be strange for an eruption to occur anywhere on the mountain now," said lead researcher Shigeru Suto from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

"Right now only slow movements are occurring. Before an eruption, those movements become much more abrupt," Suto said. Still, he urged officials to reconsider current disaster-prevention measures and evacuation plans.

The 3,776-meter peak lies just 100 km from the Tokyo area, where over a fifth of Japan's 120 million people live. The government has said an eruption could cause up to 2.5 trillion yen in damage.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040428b6.htm

[RC]

2. To find exchange rates...

http://www.x-rates.com/

The dollar is worth about 115 yen.

[markses]

3. Rove?

:evilgrin:

[Peter1x9]

4. When the weather's decent over there...

You can see live web cam images of some of Japan's volcanoes.

Sakurajima: http://yumemaru.com/s/

Fuji: http://www3.shizuokanet.ne.jp/sinet/cam.acgi
Asama: http://www.localinfo.nagano-idc.com/live/asama/index.html
Adatara: http://www.nk-g.co.jp/teiten.html
Iwate: http://www-cg.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/live_cam/index.html

[mulethree]

5. this volcano erupts constantly

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_asia/sakura.html

[Thaddeus]

6. I've been to the Kagoshima area

Very beautiful region. Earlier posters are correct: sakura-jima volcano is always erupting, though this seems to be a significant hiccup.

[VolcanoJen]

7. I swear I had nothing to do with it.

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[BootinUp]

8. lol n/t