A magnitude-5.4 earthquake has rattled central Japan and at least seven people are hurt.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake hit Thursday in Nagano, some 170 km northwest of Tokyo. The quake was just four km deep. No tsunami warning was issued, the agency said.
Nagano fire department official Sadahiko Furusawa said seven people were injured in the quake, but none was in critical condition.
Japan is located on the Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines spanning the Pacific Basin, and is regularly hit by earthquakes. The nation is recovering from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which left more than 22,000 people dead or missing in northeastern Japan.
