A major earthquake rocked Japan’s northern coast on Monday, with the country’s meteorological agency recording two 40-centimetre tsunami waves and local media reporting injuries.
The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.6 quake struck at 1415 GMT off Misawa on Japan’s Pacific coast, at a depth of 53 kilometres (33 miles).
The Japan Meterological Agency issued a tsunami warning, with a first wave hitting a port in the northern region of Aomori, where Misawa is located, at 11:43 (1443 GMT).
At 11:50 pm, another wave reached the town of Urakawa town in the Hokkaido region, the agency said.
Both waves measured 40 centimetres (16 inches), it added.
Public broadcaster NHK cited a hotel employee in the city of Hachinohe in Aomori as saying there had been some injuries, with live footage showing shattered glass fragments scattered across roads.
The quake was also felt in the northern hub of Sapporo, where alarms rang on smartphones to alert residents.
The initial quake was followed by a series of aftershocks of up to magnitude 5.8.
The remote Kamchatka region has been hit by a series of powerful earthquakes over the past two months, including ones of magnitude 8.8, and two of magnitude 7.4.