Japan: Volcano creates ‘new island’ off coast

A new island has been formed off the coast of Nishinoshima. Picture: AP/Kyodo Times

Japan’s coast guard and the country’s Meteorological Agency said the islet was about 660ft across, lying just off the coast of Nishinoshima, a small, uninhabited island in the Ogasawara chain.

The 30-odd islands are 620 miles south of Tokyo and along with the rest of Japan are part of the seismically-active Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

The coast guard issued an advisory warning of heavy black smoke from the eruption. Television footage showed heavy smoke, ash and rocks exploding from the crater, as steam billowed into the sky.

Hiroshi Ito, a volcanologist with the coast guard, said it was possible the new island might be eroded away, but that it could remain permanently.

The last time the volcanos in the area are known to have erupted was in the mid-1970s. Much of the volcanic activity occurs under the sea, which extends thousands of metres deep along the Izu-Ogasawara-Marianas Trench.

Japan’s chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga welcomed the news of yet another bit, however tiny, of new territory.

Suga said: “This has happened before and in some cases the islands disappeared.

“If it becomes a full-fledged island, we would be happy to have more territory.”