Eruptions from an undersea volcano continued spewing plumes of smoke and ash Nov. 3 around a new islet taking shape off the coast of distant Iwoto island in the Pacific Ocean.
Eruptions from an undersea volcano have apparently created an islet in the Ogasawara island chain more than 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean, officials said.
One recent day, Tokiko Okuyama recounted her childhood memories on Iwojima over black-and-white photographs spread out on a table as two descendants of war-displaced islanders were writing down her accounts in notebooks.
KANUMA, Tochigi Prefecture A shipping tag addressed to a Japanese soldier killed in the Battle of Iwojima was returned to a bereaved family member 78 years after World War II.
NISHINOOMOTE, Kagoshima Prefecture The Defense Ministry began construction of a new Self-Defense Forces base on Mageshima island on Jan. 12 as part of a controversial plan to relocate a U.S. military aircraft training site.