Japan on alert
As Londoners awoke to find their city covered with a layer of pristine snow, locals in Tokyo also found their city covered in white stuff - only it wasn't snow, it was ash from the eruption of Mount Asama...
The towns surrounding the volcano are facing a possible evacuation after Mount Asama, which lies 90 miles northwest of the city in central Japan, erupted, spewing smoke and burning rocks more than a mile high. Some locals mistook the ash for snow.
Some had other notions- in Tokyo's western district of Fussa, the local Government office was flooded with calls from residents asking about ‘the mysterious white powder' falling from the sky.
Chunks of rock have been found today more than 3,000 feet away from Asama, which is well known as one of Japan's most active volcanoes.
With 108 active volcanoes, Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world - with 10 per cent of the world's volcanoes - and experts are warning that the 2,568-metre Asama could now be gearing up for a second eruption.
The Japan Meteorological Agency first raised its alert level to three (the highest is five) for the snow-capped volcano yesterday after detecting signs of increased activity. They warned more than 45,000 locals to be ready to leave their homes should the danger intensify.
An alert level of three, which urges nearby residents to take caution, was kept in place for a 2.5 mile radius. People are being forbidden from entering the area around the volcano.
The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology is currently trying to work out if the first eruption has eased the pressure or is merely an indication of a far larger explosion.
Mount Asama has had frequent bouts of activity in recent years, with the last major eruption in September 2004, but currently there is no lava as a result of this latest eruption.
Fears have been sparked that there could be a repeat of Asama's 1783 eruption, which caused the deaths of more than 1,500 people and widespread damage.
Japan's tourist office is concerned that this latest eruption may have a negative effect on the levels of tourists visiting the country.
And that's not the only one...
Volcanoes were having a busy night last night, with another eruption at Mount Sakurajima on Japan's Southern island of Kyushu, as well as Asama. There was also an eruption at the Karymsky Volcano on the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka.
Together, the three eruptions spread ash as far as the Philippines and Vietnam, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Japan and New Zealand are amongst the countries which lie in the pacific Ring of Fire, a series of volcanoes and fault lines that lie around the Pacific Ocean and make them prone to seismic activity.
Picture by beggs