A Chinese Navy survey vessel briefly entered Japanese territorial waters on Saturday, Japan's defence ministry said.

The ship was detected in Japanese territory off the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture, in the southwest of the country, at around 6 a.m. local time (2100 GMT Friday), and had departed by 7:53 a.m., the ministry said on its website.

This is the tenth time over the past year that a Chinese Navy survey ship has sailed through Japan's territorial waters, and the 13th time if submarines and intelligence-gathering vessels are included, according to national broadcaster NHK.

(With Input From International Agencies)