A strong earthquake has hit off Japan's Izu Islands.
The second of two earthquakes to hit Japan on 30/31 May 2015. Photo: US Geological Survey
The US Geological Survey said the 6.4 magnitude quake, which struck at about 6.50am (NZST), had a shallow epicentre of 13 kilometres.
Just before midnight, an 8.5 magnitude also hit off the Ogasawara Islands, south of Tokyo, at a depth of 590 kilometres.
There were no reports of serious damage or any tsunami alert from either earthquake.
However, Tokyo's fire department did receive calls about people suffering injuries as a result of falls during the first quake, broadcaster NHK said.
Reuters reported that services on the Shinkansen high speed train line between Tokyo and Osaka were briefly halted by power cuts.
Some trains in Tokyo also stopped for safety checks, causing crowds of commuters to form around some of the city's busier stations.
Michiko Orita, a resident of the island of Hahajima, near the epicentre, told NHK that the first earthquake shook the ground violently.
"I have not experienced anything like that, so it was so frightening."
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active nations.
In March 2011, a massive 9.0 magnitude quake started a tsunami that left nearly 20,000 people dead in north-eastern Japan and caused nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.
- Reuters/BBC
