In case you weren’t aware, Mount Ontake (御嶽山 Ontake-san), the second highest volcano in Japan at 10,062 feet and located 125 miles west of Tokyo erupted over the weekend. There is some amazing amateur footage of the eruption and descending ash cloud.
This is called a “pyroclastic flow” consisting of hot gas and rock which can move at speeds of up to 450 mph! In this cloud of ash there may also be poisonous gases. I hope some of the hikers were able to survive.
Here is a link to a Wikipedia page on Mount Ontake, and it’s already updated with info about the recent eruption on September 27, 2014!
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ontake
Mount Ontake in Nagano prefecture Credit: Google Maps
If you watch the Japanese news on YouTube or on a streaming channel, there will usually be a number of newscasts on significant recent events such as this. A good way to know what is happening is to read Japan related news sites that are in English and then watch the Japanese news broadcasts. I like to read a site called Japan Today:
After reading the news in English you can check out the ANN streaming news at the site below:
http://www.tv-tube.net/tvchannels/watch/1548/tv-asahi-ann-news
ANN and FNN also have YouTube channels with lots of news clips to choose from. You’ll be overwhelmed by the choices.
Eternal Perspectives 