This is Mt. Asama. Those are not all clouds at the top of the mountain. Check out the picture below taken on a clear day.
My father in law has a vacation cabin about four miles from the base of the volcano. Last September, he heard a loud explosion that shook the house. Minutes later, small rocks about 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter fell on the house, and a fine grey ash covered everything!
Geologists were predicting a “small event” and luckily they were right! Actually, it might have been a little bigger than they thought.
This is all pretty scary, because in 1783 this volcano created the largest eruption in Japan’s recorded history. During that eruption much of the nearby town was destroyed, killing most of the people living there. My father in law has boulders in his yard about 2-3 feet in diameter from that eruption 222 years ago. They flew through the air for four miles!
My father in law holding the rocks that fell on his house last September
Rocks and some of the ash that fell last September
Here are some great educational web sites on volcanoes:
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vw.html
and if you can read Japanese, a site on Mt. Asama itself:
http://www.asamaen.tsumagoi.gunma.jp/
Shifting gears to a cute story:
I’m sure you know how much the Japanese people love the hot spring baths they have there. Well, so do the monkeys!
There is a place near Nagano (remember the 1998 Winter Olympics?) where monkeys come out of the mountains to take a hot spring bath. They are not scared of people and let us come very close and take pictures.
A baby monkey enjoying the water
The owners of the property feed them daily to encourage them. They have a web cam I have linked below. Remember, Japan time is 14 hours ahead of us, meaning our night is their day. So try this at night (the later, the better).
Monkey web cam (updates every 3 minutes):
http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/index.htm
Sayonara!
Edmonton dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night and the 4-0 margin in Game 6 makes it hard to imagine the Oilers not hoisting hockey’s Holy Grail above their heads in less than 48 hours. And it would not come as any shock to see defenseman Chris Pronger, who had another 31-minute night, take the honors for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
Edmonton dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night and the 4-0 margin in Game 6 makes it hard to imagine the Oilers not hoisting hockey’s Holy Grail above their heads in less than 48 hours. And it would not come as any shock to see defenseman Chris Pronger, who had another 31-minute night, take the honors for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
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