"A Japanese volcano about 50 km (30 miles) from a nuclear plant erupted on Friday, shooting ash nearly 2 km into the night sky along with fountains of lava, but there were no immediate report of damage and operations at the power station were not affected.

Following what they termed an "explosive eruption," Japan's Meteorological Agency raised the warning level on the peak, which experiences hundreds of small eruptions a year, to 3, meaning that people should not approach the mountain.

'It appears that stones have been thrown about 2 km from the crater, but this area is quite far from any communities,' Kazuhiro Ishihara, an emeritus professor at Kyoto University, told NHK national television."

Osamu Tsukimori, Kiyoshi Takenaka, and Elaine Lies report for Reuters February 5, 2016. [2]