Three eruptions were observed on Tuesday from the 2,568-meter (8,474-foot) Mount Asama, 150 kilometers (95 miles) northwest of the capital, the agency said.

A column of billowing smoke rose about 2,500 meters, but there were no reports of rocks being out, the agency said. Television pictures showed ash covering cars in Takasaki, a town about 45 kilometers away.

Local authorities have not issued any evacuation warning with no reports of injuries from the eruption.

"It is still possible that eruptions will continue for the time being although the scale of eruption cannot be predicted," an agency official said.

An eruption on September 1 which threw rocks over a wide area and caused a forest fire on its slopes, was the volcano's most violent since April 1983.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.