Quake hits southeast Japan, tsunami warning issued

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 jolted islands in the Pacific southeast of mainland Japan on Wednesday and a tsunami warning was issued, the Japan meteorological agency said.

There were no immediate reports of damage, public broadcaster NHK said, adding the tsunami warning was for waves of up to one metre (3 feet) high for the Ogasawara islands, about 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo. 

Small waves had already hit one of the islands, NHK reported.

The focus of the tremor was about 130 km (80 miles) northeast of Chichijima island and about 10 km under the sea, the agency said.

Japan lies in one of the world's most seismically active areas. It accounts for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude six or greater.