A powerful earthquake shook Japan's northeastern coast, triggering a small tsunami and causing buildings to sway as far away as Tokyo.

A one-meter high tsunami swept ashore Friday in Ishinomaki, in Miyagi prefecture, the same region that was devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

There were no immediate reports of damage from Friday's 7.3 magnitude quake that struck off the coast. Japanese authorities have since lifted any tsunami warnings.

National broadcaster NHK broke off normal programming to report on the quake and repeatedly urged coastal residents to flee to higher ground.

Last year's 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed or left missing around 20,000 people and caused meltdowns at the Fukushima Number One nuclear plant in the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union.

The U.S Geological Survey said Friday's quake struck 36 kilometres under the Pacific, 245 kilometers southeast of Kamaishi.