A powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale rocked several islands in the East China Sea, including Japan's Okinawan chain, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The tremor hit at 1.02 p.m. local time, with its focus located below the seabed about 100 kilometres south of Okinawa's Yonaguni island, lying close to Taiwan, and 10 kilometres deep, an agency official said.
"The quake's impact was not so strong because its focus was not immediately below land," the official said.
The tremor was of about the same magnitude as the 1995 earthquake that killed over 6,400 people in the Japanese port of Kobe and its vicinity.
"We were rocked sideways but there were no reports of damage, except for a window pane shattered," said a Yonaguni town official. "I also heared that some pots and pans fell off from kitchen shelves. But that was about it," he said.
AFP