Japan's Meteorological Agency raised the tsunami warning for the area of Honshu. But the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not post warnings for the rest of the Pacific.
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The quake hit at 2:10 am Saturday Tokyo time, the USGS said.
The tremor was felt in Tokyo, some 300 miles (480 kilometers) away.
Arik Amsalem, an Israeli currently in a Tokyo hotel, told Ynet that the quake was well felt in the Japanese capital as well. "I am on the hotel's 12th floor, and the earthquake was really strong here. Within minutes it was broadcasted and the channels here are transmitting from the ports. I was in the middle of a video chat with my family in Israel when the entire room shook. As someone who has lived in Japan for 20 years, I know the feeling."
A 30-centimetre (12-inch) tsunami hit Japan after the powerful and shallow undersea quake, broadcaster NHK said, although there were no immediate signs of serious damage or injury.
All but two of Japan's 50 reactors have been offline since the March 2011 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami triggered multiple meltdowns and massive radiation leaks at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, about 250 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
About 19,000 people were killed.
AP contributed to this report
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