A Japanese volcano that featured in a 1960s James Bond movie erupted explosively on Friday for the first time since April, sending smoke thousands of meters into the air less than a week after a strong earthquake shook Osaka Prefecture.
Mount Shinmoe, which is located in Kyushu in a mainly rural area about 985 kilometers (616 miles) from Tokyo, had quietened down since the earlier eruption, although admission to the 1,421-meter-high peak had remained restricted.
Television images showed smoke and ash billowing into the air above the volcano, which featured in the 1967 spy film "You Only Live Twice." TBS television said rock was thrown as far as 1,100 meters from the mountain.
Japan has 110 active volcanoes and monitors 47 constantly. When 63 people were killed in the volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake in September 2014, it was the country's worst such toll for nearly 90 years.
In January a member of Japan's Self-Defense Forces was struck and killed when rocks from a volcanic eruption rained down on skiers at a central mountain resort.
On Monday, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake registering a lower 6 on the Japanese scale of 7 struck Osaka Prefecture, killing five, including a nine-year-old schoolgirl, and injuring hundreds.
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