TOKYO — Mount Asama, one of Japan's largest and most active volcanoes, erupted Wednesday night, spewing lava and smoke into the air. No injuries or damage were reported. Television footage shown by public broadcaster NHK showed a red glow lighting up the night sky from the eruption.
Volcanic rock and ash has spread about a mile from the crater, the Japanese news agency Kyoto reported. Tremors were continuing, the Japan's Meteorological Agency said. It was not clear how high the smoke rose because of cloud cover, the agency said in an emergency bulletin. It asked residents to pay attention to further volcanic activity and stay away from the crater.
Police in nearby Komoro said they received dozens of phone calls from residents reporting the sound of a large bang, police spokesman Akira Yazawa said. The Meteorological Agency lifted its activity rating for Mount Asama to 3 from 2, meaning that a small- to medium-sized eruption had occurred.
The 8,474-foot mountain is about six miles from the central Japan resort town of Karuizawa, about 90 miles west of Tokyo. It's also about 30 miles southeast of Nagano, site of the 1998 Winter Olympics. Mount Asama has had several minor eruptions in recent years. In 1947, 11 mountaineers were killed after being struck by molten rocks on the slope. The volcano's last major eruption was in 1783.
Japan has 108 active volcanoes. The nation lies in the "Ring of Fire" — a series of volcanoes and fault lines that outline the Pacific Ocean. Earlier Wednesday, a magnitude-5.8 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Fukushima state — about 155 miles northeast of the eruption. No injuries or damage were reported.
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