The quake struck at 4:27 p.m. local time on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan and was measured at the highest possible level on the country's own Shindo scale. According to the JMA, shaking of that intensity makes it impossible to stand up, Bloomberg reports.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers.
The tsunami warning applies to a wave of up to 1 meter, AFP reports.
On the island of Kyushu there are many factories run by manufacturers of chip equipment, among other things.
The airline ANA is canceling flights from Kumamoto and Nagasaki airports, reports Kyodo News.
A Japanese regulatory agency reports that no immediate abnormalities have been recorded at nuclear power plants after the earthquake.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries, located on four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire".
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck northern Japan on June 25 but caused no deaths or major damage.
It is the first time an earthquake has been registered at the highest level on the Shindo scale since the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January 2024, reports public broadcaster NHK .
