When both Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures held disaster drills earlier this year, they were not rehearsing for an earthquake.
The 15,000 Yamanashi participants included officials and residents from a number of towns around Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak rising to 3,776 meters. The drill focused on evacuation from the threat of lava flows, falling ash and mudslides. Shizuoka's drill in May projected a scenario of quakes sparked by an eruption. Both drills were the the first of their kind in the prefectures.
Mount Fuji is one of 86 active volcanoes in Japan, which account for 10 percent of the world's total. It has not shown major activity for almost 300 years, since a 1707 eruption sent ash spewing as far as Tokyo.