A military projectile was found Monday at a garbage collection point in Chiba Prefecture, leading to a brief evacuation of about 100 residents in the area.

A bomb disposal squad from the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Asaka picked up the object in the late afternoon, after a garbage collector found it at around 11:40 a.m. and called the police. The garbage collection site is in a residential area in Kashiwa.

According to Camp Asaka, the object was a projectile warhead like those used in the 1970s and 1980s to check the trajectory of trench mortar rounds. It did not contain explosives and was not deemed hazardous.

Kashiwa Police said the warhead was 56 cm long and 8 cm in diameter. Markings printed on it read "shell, warhead, with a fuze."

"I walked through the garbage collection point this morning but did not notice (the warhead)," said Kazuyo Hirabayashi, 52, who visited her parents' house in the area.