The volcano that played a central part in a James Bond film has erupted in Japan shooting ash into the air and bringing lava to the surface.
Shinmoedake, which was featured as a villain’s secret lair in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice starring Sean Connery as agent 007, has been particularly active since March 1 when the entrance to the 1,421m-high peak was restricted.
On Tuesday, it eventually erupted and threw ash thousands of metres into the sky, prompting the cancellation of flights to and from a nearby airport.
The eruption near Kobayashi City on Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu is likely to continue for some time in the largely rural area some 616 miles (985km) from Tokyo.
The volcano that played a central part in a James Bond film has erupted in Japan shooting ash into the air and bringing lava to the surface
Shinmoedake has been particularly active since March 1 when the entrance to the 1,421m-high peak was restricted
On Tuesday, it eventually erupted and threw ash thousands of metres into the sky, prompting the cancellation of flights to and from a nearby airport
Television footage showed smoke and ash billowing high into the sky, with lava visible deep inside a crater at the mountain, which featured in the movie.
NHK public television said the smoke and ash had risen as far as 3,650m in the peak’s strongest eruption in seven years.
An official at the Japanese Meteorological Agency said: ‘The mountain has been erupting for a while, but this is the strongest day yet.
Shinmoedake Volcano is seen erupting in Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyushu Island, Japan, March 6, 2018
On the set of the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, at Pinewood Studios. Pictured is the villain’s secret headquarters located inside a volcano
Sean Connery (left) played James Bond in 1967 movie You Only Live Twice which featured the volcano (right)
A video grab from the Japan Meteorological Agency’s live camera image shows Shinmoedake peak erupting between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, southwestern Japan
‘This will go on for a while.’
As a result, some 65 flights were cancelled, NHK added.
Japan has 110 active volcanoes and monitors 47 of them around the clock.
In September 2014, 63 people were killed on Mount Ontake, the worst volcanic toll in Japan for nearly 90 years.
Back in January, a member of Japan’s military was struck and killed when rocks from a volcanic eruption rained down on skiers at a mountain resort in central Japan.
The volcano features prominently in You Only Live Twice, which is the lair of villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
A screenshot of the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice shows an aircraft above the volcano
Shinmoedake’s crater acts as an entrance to a mysterious, hidden base with aircraft coming and going.
Having establishing the mouth of the volcano is a disguised hatch to a secret rocket base, Bond slips in to save the day.
The volcano erupted in December, and drone footage showed smoke billowing from its crater.
A villain in the James Bond series works inside the volcano – a lair of villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.