Monday 08 / December / 2025
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake rattled northern Japan on Monday at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT).
Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) earlier issued a tsunami warning for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, which was then lifted.
The agency said a wave of 40 centimeters (16 inches) struck the town of Urakawa in Hokkaido and the port of Mutsu Ogawara in Aomori.
Earthquake struck off Japan's eastern coast
The JMA said the epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of Aomori prefecture, at a depth of 50 km (30 miles).
"There is a possibility that further powerful and stronger earthquakes could occur over the next several days," a JMA official said at a briefing.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that there had been some injuries in the city of Hachinohe in Aomori citing a hotel employee with the information. Live footage showed shattered glass fragments scattered across roads.
A reporter for NHK in Hokkaido described shaking lasting around 30 seconds as the earthquake struck.
The Reuters news agency reported there had been no irregularities flagged at nuclear power plants in the region run by Tohoku Electric Power and Hokkaido Electric Power, and cited the power utilities. Tohoku Electric did say, however, that thousands were without power.
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said government had set up an emergency task force to assess the extent of damage. "We are putting people's lives first and doing everything we can," she said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the no abnormalities had been observed at the Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake.
As a precautionary measure, the discharge of treated water from the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) was suspended at 11:42 p.m. (1442 GMT), the IAEA said in a post on X.
