Strong quake jolts northern Japan, no tsunami warning issued

TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 hit northeastern Japan on Saturday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The agency said the epicentre of the earthquake was off the Pacific coast of Miyagi prefecture, about 300 kilometres (187 miles) from the capital Tokyo, adding that no tsunami warning had been issued.

There were no immediate reports of major damage.

On March 11, the northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami, which triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The disaster left up to 20,000 dead or missing. (Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)