Mount Asama, historically one of the nations most active volcanos, came back to life on Wednesday night, the Meteorological Agency reported, marking the first eruption since June 2015.
Smoke from the crater of the volcano reached about 1,800 meters, NHK reported, citing the agency. The eruption occurred around 10:08 p.m.
Mount Asama sits on the border of Nagano and Gunma prefectures,
Following the “small scale” eruption, the government set up a crisis management task force at the Prime Minister’s Office. This prompted the agency to raise its alert to level 3 from 1, restricting the entry to the mountain.