A recent series of eruptions at Mount Asama that began last month is the latest reminder that Japan is a country of volcanoes.
Japan has 108 active volcanoes that have erupted at least once in the last 10,000 years.
While the Meteorological Agency has succeeded in forecasting eruptions -- in some cases by monitoring such pre-eruption signs as earthquakes -- it is often hard to determine the timing, scale and duration of an eruption because each volcano is different.