Wideawake Cameraman Takes "Spot-Newsphoto" Of Mt. Asama Eruption Nagano Prefecture.... Snapped within two seconds of explosion: the eruption of Mt. Asama, at 2:58 P.M., on October 5th, as photographed from an exploring airplane which, while circling the peak at a high altitude, had been forced down by the explosion to within 700 meters of the volcano's mouth. The height of the wriggling column of smoke, some 300 meters above the rim, testifies to the speed with which the smoke had been thrust into the air, in those two seconds, from the bottom of the pit. October 1, 1938. (Photo by Japan Photo Library).