An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit Ehime and Kochi prefectures in western Japan on Wednesday but no tsunami warning was issued, Japan's weather agency said.

The 11:14 p.m. quake registered lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in the prefecture and its focus was off a strait separating the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku at a depth of around 50 kilometers.

Despite the quake, the Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime continues to operate, according to Shikoku Electric Power Co.

==Kyodo

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