A powerful earthquake hit northwestern Japan on Tuesday night,... triggering a small tsunami near the quake's epicenter.
The quake, which struck at 10:22PM, local time, was recorded at a magnitude of six-point-eight and it hit underwater some 50 kilometers south west of the city of Sakata.
Shortly after the quake hit, Japan's meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning, saying it expected a surge of seawater to arrive imminently in the coastal areas of Yamagata, Niigata and Ishikawa.
21 people were injured in the quake, thousands of households experienced power blackouts and some train services were suspended.
Tuesday's quake was the strongest observed in Japan since a magnitude seven-point-oh quake rattled Hokkaido last September.