An earthquake has hit the northern part of Japan's main Honshu island.
The quake, at a depth of 120km, was centred 64km east of Morioka, in northern Honshu, and measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.
The tremor shook buildings and was felt in Tokyo, 500km to the south.
Between 26 and 56 people were injured and 6,000 homes were without electricity.
East Japan Railway Co said more than 600 people were stuck on five trains that were halted due to the quake.
There was a fire in one building in Hachinohe, a city of about 240,000 people.
Some parts of highways were closed to traffic in the region, a mountainous and sparsely populated part of Japan, but they were later reopened.
TV footage showed offices with papers strewn around on the floor and some with parts of ceilings fallen down.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of landslides in some areas, where strong rain was expected in coming hours.
Electricity officials said that two of the three units at the Onagawa nuclear plant, south of the epicentre, are operating normally following the tremor.
The third is off-line for routine maintenance.
Onagawa was briefly closed three years ago because of fears it was vulnerable to quake damage.
The other nuclear plant operated by the Tokohu company at Higashidori in the far north is also operating normally.
But Tohoku said it had manually shut down a 250Mw oil-fired power plant in Aomori and Nippon Steel halted steel output and shut down a 149Mw coal-fired power plant at its Kamaishi works for inspection.
