Amateur geologist makes surprise find September 05 2003 at 08:45AM Tokyo - A crater from a meteorite impact more than 20 000 years ago has been discovered in the Japanese Alps, an amateur geologist announced this week. The crater is the first found in this country. Masao Sakamoto said the crater stretches 900m in diameter and spreads out across rugged, heavily forested land in Nagano state, about 160km west of Tokyo. Sakamoto, who announced his discovery at an academic symposium earlier this week, said it went largely unnoticed because only about 40 percent of the crater is visible. "If it...