Offshore Quake Rocks Northern Japan -- But No Tsunamis, No Damage

[Spartan]

A powerful earthquake struck early Saturday off the coast of northern Japan -- rattling nerves in a region rocked three years ago by a deadly tremor, tsunami and nuclear crisis, though thankfully the latest episode didn't nearly measure up.

The Japan Meteorological Agency at one point issued a tsunami warning, which it later amended to tsunami advisories for coastal regions in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. The latter is the site of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility that was the center of a weeks-long radioactive crisis.

But a large tsunami never materialized.

At 6:15 a.m. Saturday (5:15 p.m. ET Friday), the same agency noted that all tsunami advisories had been canceled.