• Tourist helicopter wreckage found near Mount Aso crater after disappearance, Japan

    A sightseeing helicopter carrying two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot was found wrecked near the crater of Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on January 20, 2026, after disappearing during a short flight earlier the same day. Rescue operations have been severely hampered by dense volcanic gas emissions and poor visibility around the active crater.

  • Small-scale eruption at Asosan volcano, Japan

    A small-scale eruption started at Asosan volcano, Japan at 22:57 UTC on July 25, 2019 (07:57 LT, July 26), producing an ash column up to 3 km (10 000 feet) above sea level. This is the latest in a series of small eruptions at the volcano that started on April 16,…

  • Another eruption at Asosan volcano, Japan

    Another minor eruption took place at Japanese Asosan volcano (Mount Aso) in Kumamoto Prefecture late Thursday, April 18, 2019. The eruption started at 23:24 UTC on April 18 (08:24 JST, April 19) at the No. 1 Nakadake crater, spewing ash up to 400 m (1 312 feet)…

  • Eruption at Asosan, the first since October 2016 , Japan

    The Japanese Asosan volcano erupted at 09:28 UTC (18:28 LT) on April 16, 2019. It was its first eruption since October 8, 2016. The Alert Level was raised to 2 on April 14. At one point, the volcanic ash reached 200 m (656 feet) above the crater (1 792 m / 5 880…

  • Increased activity at Asosan volcano, alert level raised, Japan

    The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has raised the Alert Level for Asosan volcano, Kyushu, Japan from Level 1 to Level 2 (do not approach the crater) at 06:00 JST on March 12, 2019. The last eruptive episode of this volcano started on October 7, 2016 and ended on…

  • Explosive eruption of Mount Aso spews ash 11 km (36 000 feet) a.s.l., Japan

    Japanese Asosan volcano (Mount Aso; the largest active volcano in Japan) erupted at 16:46 UTC on October 7, 2016, sending a column of ash up to 11 km (36 000 feet) above sea level. JMA issued its third-highest alert (of 5), warning people not to approach the…

  • New eruption of Asosan volcano, Japan

    Japanese Asosan volcano experienced a new eruption at 01:33 UTC on December 23, 2014. Tokyo VAAC reported volcanic ash cloud reached an altitude of 2.1 km (7 000 feet) and extended East. At 06:11 UTC it rose to approximately 2.3 km (8 000 feet) and was still extending