Sakurajima Volcano Erupts Again, Sending Ash Toward Kagoshima City

Kyushu, Japan — Sakurajima, Japan’s most active volcano, produced another explosive eruption this week, continuing an unusually intense stretch of activity that has persisted since late July.

The Minamidake crater sent a plume of ash and volcanic gas to an estimated altitude of roughly 2,200 meters above sea level, according to local reporting. The explosion reportedly ejected large volcanic rocks as far as 700 meters from the crater, with a second, smaller eruption following about 20 minutes later. Prevailing winds carried the ash cloud west toward Kagoshima City, prompting an ashfall advisory for residential areas across the bay.

Japan’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (Tokyo) and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) have logged repeated eruptive events at Sakurajima throughout the summer. JMA recorded 36 separate eruptive events and three explosions between July 27 and August 3 alone, with ash plumes reaching 1 to 3 kilometers above the summit on multiple days. A separate eruption in early August sent ash to roughly 4,400 meters, prompting an ashfall forecast for parts of Kagoshima Prefecture.

The JMA’s volcanic alert remains at Level 3 (on Japan’s 5-level scale), which restricts public access to the mountain but does not require evacuation of surrounding communities. That status has held steady through the current active period.

Note on sourcing: This week’s eruption was first reported by MBC News (Minami Nippon Broadcasting), a Kagoshima-based outlet. The specific figures above — the 2,200-meter plume height, the 700-meter ballistic range, and the “18th explosive event of the year” count — come from that report and have not yet appeared in JMA’s English-language bulletins or in wire coverage (Reuters, AP, CNN) at the time of writing. Readers should treat those specific numbers as preliminary pending confirmation from JMA’s official advisories.

Sakurajima has erupted thousands of times since monitoring began in 1955, and Kagoshima City — home to roughly 680,000 residents just a few kilometers from the crater — conducts regular evacuation drills and maintains ash shelters as a matter of routine civil preparedness.