As you probably know, I love Japan’s culture of onsen, bathing in volcanic hot springs. But nothing good in life is free, and the wonderful hot water pouring out of the Earth does come with a cost, in the form of live volcanoes and earthquakes. Japan is an extremely active place seismically, with a whopping 1/10 of the world’s 840 active volcanoes located here, which are the source of the quakes that often send my Star Wars figures tumbling. Today Mt. Asama, one of the most active volcanoes in the country, spat out a plume of ash that reached Tokyo some 140 km away. This was a minor eruption as these things go, but in 1783, Asama rained fire and ash down on the village of Komochi, killing 1500 and earning the village the nickname “The Pompeii of Japan.” Since I go to the foot of Mt. Asama every other week or so, it’s only dumb luck that I wasn’t right there to see the fireworks.
Mt. Asama, which is about 2 km from our apartment up in Karuizawa, goes boom
