A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Kyushu, Japan's southern main island, at a depth of about 30 kilometers, triggering a tsunami that reached Miyazaki prefecture. The Japanese government set up a special task force, with no immediate signs of major damage reported.

Japan, highly tectonic, experiences around 1,500 quakes annually, mostly mild due to stringent building standards. On New Year's Day, a significant quake killed at least 260 people, including 30 due to quake-linked incidents.

Japan's largest recorded quake, a magnitude-9.0 in March 2011, caused a tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, resulting in about 18,500 deaths or missing people and a cost of 16.9 trillion yen ($112 billion).