A passenger plane with 60 people on board landed safely at Kochi Airport in southern Japan after its nose landing gear failed to descend.
Live television footage showed the All Nippon Airways turbo-prop plane landing on its rear wheels and progressing down the runway before the nose touched down and some sparks flew.
Fire trucks then sprayed the plane with foam, before passengers disembarked through the cabin door.
A Japanese Transport Ministry official said there were no injuries.
The plane, on an internal flight from Osaka, had been circling the airport for more than an hour to use up its fuel before landing.
ANA said in a statement the propeller plane was a DHC 8-400 made by Bombardier Inc, the world's third-largest maker of civil aircraft.
The airline said the cause of the nose gear malfunction was unknown and the company would co-operate with authorities to determine the reason.
