The epicenter of the quake, which hit at 2138 GMT Monday, was about 350 kilometers (215 miles) east of Sendai on the Japanese island of Honshu, the USGS said.

The temblor originated at a depth of 29.8 kilometers (18.5 miles) from the ocean surface.

The USGS had earlier reported the quake at a magnitude of 7.2 on the open-ended Richter scale and at a depth of 24 kilometers (15 miles).

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported the power of the quake at a magnitude of 7.3. It gave no immediate tsunami warning.

A 30-centimeter (12-inch) high tsunami reached the shore of the northern Japan city of Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, at 7:26 am (22:26 GMT Monday), a municipal official said. Smaller seismic waves were also observed in the prefecture.

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