The Japan Meteorological Agency on Friday issued a warning of a minor eruption of Mt. Ioyama in the country's southern region after detecting increased volcanic activity in the volcano. The agency raised the alert level on a scale of five for the 1317-meter mountain from 1 to 2, which means that the area around the crater is dangerous.
The announcement prompted the local governments to impose a one-kilometer travel ban around the crater and urge climbers to get down from the mountain.
Mt. Ioyama is in the Kirishima mountain range, which is a popular destination for hikers. The agency said volcanic tremors have been observed at Mt. Ioyama since last December, including a tremor lasting seven minutes late August. The sudden eruption of Mt. Ontake in central Japan on Sept. 27 killed at least 57 hikers in the country's worst postwar volcanic disaster.