A volcano erupted on a small island in southern Japan on Thursday, the country's meteorological agency said, spewing ash and smoke into the air over the sparsely-inhabited area.
Public broadcaster NHK said there were no reports of injuries or damage yet from the eruption of the volcano on Kuchinoerabu island in the far south of Japan.
The agency said the eruption occurred at 9:19am local time (0019GMT), shortly after it issued a new warning.
"There have been eruptions there since last year but we sent an alert out (this morning) for this latest eruption as it will have a wider impact," said Jun Fujimatsu, an official at the meteorological agency's volcanic activity division.
"We have maintained a level three warning, which means a ban on entering the volcano area," he told AFP.
"There are several craters at the volcano... The danger zone is two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Shindake crater," he added.
"We do not think the latest eruption would engulf the entire island." Images ...
