Ash plume from Mount Asama, Japan

On September 1, 2004, Japans Mt. Asama erupted explosively. After a two-week rest, the volcano continued its eruption in several small bursts starting on September 14, sending plumes of ash from the its 2,568 meter-high summit crater. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ( MODIS ) on NASAs Terra satellite captured this view of the smoking volcano at 10:30 a.m. Tokyo time on September 16, 2004. In this image, the ash plume is heading due south towards Suruga Bay. This eruption is not unusual—Asama is the most active volcano on Honshu, Japans main island. Its last eruption was in 2003, though the current eruption is its most violent since 1983. Over 50 distinct eruptions have been recorded since 685 AD. About 140 kilometers to the southeast, Tokyo is the cement-colored region around the Bay of Tokyo. The metropolitan area is the worlds most populated, with over 28 million residents. The city is also one of the most expensive and modern in the world, since land space is at a premium and natural disasters spur (re)building.