Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ing around, usually with Mars, Vulcan became enraged and beat the red hot metalworks in his forge
with such force that ire, smoke and ash rose up and caused a volcanic erupion. Now, if that explan-
aion's not good enough for you, how about volcanoes are ruptures in the earth's surface that allow
gas, ash, lava, pumice, magma—all sorts of pyroclasic debris—to escape, often with extraordinary
force. Volcanoes are usually, though not always, found where the earth's tectonic plates are diver-
ging or converging. Technically, there are many types of volcanoes but the most well known and the
most dangerous, are “stratovolcanoes.” Japan's Mt Fuji and Sakurajima and Italy's Mt Vesuvius and
Etna are classic examples. To volcanologists, the disincions among active, dormant and exinct vol-
canoes are virtually meaningless. All volcanoes, given enough ime, can potenially explode. What
scientists watch for are the warning signals a volcano may give: its acivity, smoke, earthquakes,
lava flows, etc. Pictured below is 3,776-meter (12,388-feet)-tall Mt Fuji or Fuji-san (
富士山
), Japan's
greatest volcano.
The Northwestern Group
The three islands of Takeshima, Iōjima and Kuroshima are often called by their collective
geographic name, the Mishima Islands (
三島 列島
; Mishima-rettō), which appropriately
means “three islands.” A fourth islet, Shōwa Iōjima, is a relative newcomer. Literally an up-
start, it popped up out of the ocean in 1934 as a result of an undersea volcanic explosion.
It is uninhabitable. Mishima, the political entity, is the Japanese administrative district en-
compassing the three populated islands. It more formally is called Mishima Mura (
三島
村
Mishima-mura;
mura
means “village”). The total population of the village is about 400,
spread out over a three-island area of a little more than 12 square miles (31 square kilomet-
ers) in total.
There's not a lot of traffic to these islands and there is no commercial air service, though
there is an airstrip on Iōjima which can be used by charter aircraft and emergency evacuation
