My previous post mentioned that we had some earthquake activity recently. Turns out that the seismic forces at work weren't finished yet.
Asama-yama is an active volcano stuck along the border of Gunma-ken (where I live) and Nagano-ken, the prefecture to the west. Benni-sensei has told me about it, but you can't see it from Isesaki, considering that it's a good distance away and there are other mountains around besides. Its last eruption was in 2004, and this weekend, there were predictions that it would erupt because of recent small earthquakes within the volcano.
The eruption was recorded as starting very early Monday morning, initially with a tongue of lava shooting from the volcano, followed by smoke billowing out of the crater. Some large rocks were found a few kilometers away from the volcano, but there was no major damage done, as Asama-yama is located in very rural area. Ash was reported in Tokyo, but I didn't notice any here in Isesaki. It was pretty cloudy today, and considering I was out driving around with Benni-sensei, I probably would have noticed ash-fall. Or maybe it happened earlier in the morning - I didn't leave my apartment until about 2pm.
I probably wouldn't have found out about it until later today if my dad hadn't called me Monday evening to ask if I'd heard about it. He said he saw it on the news. I plan on asking Hitomi-san about it when I go into work today, she's usually aware of recent news events.
For a bit of information and a video of the eruption:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7864266.stm
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