Nearly 4,000 people took part Sunday in a mass evacuation drill to test responses to a possible eruption of  Japan's highest peak Mount Fuji, weeks after a nearby volcano blew its top and killed at least 56.

The 3,776-meter (12,389-foot) Fuji last erupted in 1707 but geologists have included it as one of 47 volcanoes in the Pacific Rim country believed to be at risk of eruption in the coming century.

A Japanese study is claiming that toxic air pollution from China is to blame for high mercury levels atop the country's beloved Mount Fuji.

The research will likely do little to help simmering hostilities between the Asian giants, a relationship marred by historical animosities and territorial disputes.