This handout from the Japan Meteorological Agency, Fukuoka Regional Headquarters taken and released on October 11, 2017 shows a plume of smoke rising from the crater of Mount Shinmoedake in the Kirishima mountain range of Kagoshima prefecture on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. On June 22, 2018, Mount Shinmoedake erupted for the first time since April 2018. (STR / JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY, FUKUOKA REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS / AFP)

TOKYO - A Japanese volcano that figured 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 the country's west.

Japan has 110 active volcanoes and monitors 47 constantly

Shinmoedake, in a mainly rural area about 985 km from Tokyo on the southern most main island of Kyushu, had quitened down since the earlier eruption, although admission to the 1,421-metre high peak remained restricted.

READ MORE: Japanese 'James Bond' volcano shoots to thril

Television images showed smoke and ash billowing into the air above the peak, 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.

ALSO READ: Strong quake in Japan kills 4, injuries hundreds

In January, a member of Japan’s military was struck and killed when rocks from a volcanic eruption rained down on skiers at a central mountain resort.

On Monday, an earthquake of 6.1 magnitude struck Osaka, Japan's second largest city, killing five, including a nine-year-old schoolgirl, and injuring hundreds.