TOKYO - Japan's NTT Docomo Inc said Thursday it suffered a cyberattack that caused a website failure and some service disruptions, local media reported, following a series of similar incidents at major firms in the country recently.

Japan's largest mobile carrier said a system glitch started around 5:27 am local time, making it difficult to connect to services due to a distributed denial-of-service attack, in which networks are overwhelmed by data from multiple sources over a short period, Kyodo News reported.

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The search function for the "d payment" smartphone payment service also experienced problems, although mobile phones and other communication services were not affected, the company added.

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Recently, a series of system failures believed caused by the same type of attack have hit Japanese companies. Japan Airlines experienced a problem with its system used by passengers to check in their baggage on Dec 26, while MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, and Resona Bank reported disruptions to online transactions and other problems between late December and Wednesday.