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A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck Tokyo and surrounding eastern Japan, but there was no tsunami hazard, the national meteorological agency said.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, parts of Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures were recorded at less than 19 on Japan's seven-point seismic intensity scale.

In central Tokyo, as well as in Yokohama in neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture, an intensity of the 3rd degree was observed.

The outbreak of the quake was at a depth of about 50 km off the east coast of Chiba.

No anomalies were recorded at the Tokai 2 nuclear power plant, located in Ibaraki, northeast of Tokyo, its operator said, Kyodo said.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, which is located in one of the most seismically active areas in the world. The Land of the Rising Sun accounts for about a fifth of the world's magnitude 6 or more earthquakes.

On March 11, 2011, the country's northeastern coast was hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake, Japan's strongest recorded earthquake, and a powerful tsunami. These events triggered the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, a quarter of a century earlier.

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