Powerful earthquake strikes off coast of Japan; tsunami warnings issued

[Adam]

7.3-Magnitude Quake Rocks Japan

An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck Saturday morning off Japan's east coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Japan's emergency agencies declared a tsunami warning for the area.

Japan's Meteorological Agency raised the tsunami warning for the area of Honshu. But the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not post warnings for the rest of the Pacific.

The quake hit at 2:10 a.m. Saturday Tokyo time (1710 GMT), the USGS said.

The tremor was felt in Tokyo, some 300 miles (480 kilometers) away.

Reports are varying. I've seen reports of 5.3, 5.8, 7.3, 7.6, and 8.2 on the Richter Scale, so clearly there's some confusion involved here, but it's sounding like it's a pretty big one.

[Adam]

Good news. There was a tsunami, but it was quite small:

Japanese media reported a 30-centimeter tsunami had reached Japan's east coast.