Emerging from the eastern rim of the Pacific Ocean, the islands of Japan rise up to form one of the most mountainous countries in the world. There is hardly a place on their rugged surface from which the prominent outline of a peak or hill cannot be seen. Japan abounds with mountains of all kinds: elegantly shaped volcanoes sweeping up from low-lying plains, gnarled crags of rock lunging out of the sea, ranges of alpine peaks serenely tipped with crystal snows, long massifs of twisting ridges softened with covers of green forest. The subterranean forces that created these mountains, giving the country its distinctive character, continue to shape and shake the islands. Steam and gases seethe out of the cauldrons of volcanoes, and the land frequently quivers in response to the unseen collision of tectonic plates.