QUAKE HORROR
ONE person has died and dozens have been left injured after a massive 7.3 earthquake hit the Fukushima nuclear plant and triggered a blackout in Tokyo.
The tremor struck the same region where a major earthquake sparked the Fukushima nuclear disaster 11 years ago.
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The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning with waves of up to 3ft on the coasts in Miyagi and Fukushima after the tremor - but the alert was lifted hours later.
The quake - which struck 36 miles below the sea - rocked Tokyo for two minutes.
At least one person died in the coastal city of Soma and dozens more were injured, local news agency Kyodo reported.
And a high-speed bullet train travelling up to 200 miles per hour derailed, according to Japanese officials.
The train was between Fukushima and the city of Shiroishi when it came off the tracks with around 100 passengers on board.
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No one is reported to have been injured in the derailment, according to East Japan Railways.
The railway company said most of its train services were suspended for safety checks.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Electric Power Company said almost 2.1 million households lost power after the quake.
Images showed cities plunged into darkness, while video footage showed a train in the capital Tokyo rocking violently and rattling gaming machines at an arcade in Fukushima.
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Tohoku Electric Power Company, which covers much of northeastern Japan, including Fukushima, said more than 154,000 households lost power.
But Japan's nuclear authority said no concerns were detected at the Fukushima plant that went into meltdown in 2011 when the tsunami hit.
Pumps for cooling pools storing spent fuel at separate plants in Fukushima and Onagawa, in Miyagi, temporarily stopped working at some reactors but were being quickly restored, the country's nuclear watchdog said.
The Prime Minister's Office said the earthquake hit at 11.36pm.
Authorities said they were working to assess damage from the quake - as officials warned of potentially powerful aftershocks.
They urged people to "keep away from dangerous areas" with strong shaking.
"Calls have been inundating police and ambulances in Fukushima and Miyagi," government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.
"We're doing our best to assess the extent of the damage.
"Major aftershocks often happen a couple of days after the first quake, so please stay away from any collapsed buildings... and other high-risk places."
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TV footage showed some structural damage in the northeast, including the collapse of a stone wall of Aoba castle in Sendai city.
An official in the emergency department of the local government of Ishinomaki said he had been woken by "extremely violent shaking".
A US writer who lives in Japan tweeted: "Really big-a** earthquake here in Japan just now.
"We're fine. But it was shaking pretty damn hard for like a good 2 minutes, which if you've ever been in one, you'll know is a long time.
"Magnitude 7.3. Tsunami warning for 1 meter up north in Tohoku.
"Biggest in a while."
NHK national television said tsunami waves around eight inches reached the shore in one area.
Japan sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
The region is part of northern Japan that was devastated by a deadly 9.0 quake and tsunami that also caused one of history's worst-ever disasters on March 11, 2011.
The earthquake was the most powerful ever recorded in Japan and the fourth biggest in the world since 1900.
Terrifying 133ft waves smashed into the northeastern coast of the country, crashing into the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant.
More than 15,000 people died and nearly 230,000 were forced to flee for their lives.
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The quake caused damage of £168billion, making it the most expensive disaster in world history.
Around 32.1 trillion yen (£212billion) has been spent by the Japanese government to rebuild the area ruined by the tsunami and three nuclear meltdowns.