An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 jolted the northeast coast of Japan at 18:01 local time on Saturday, but no tsunami warning was issued, US Geological Survey said.

The temblor was centered in Sanriku offshore of northeastern Miyagi prefecture which borders the Pacific Ocean, and is to the northeast of the nation's capital Tokyo.

The epicenter of the quake was at a latitude of 40.3 degrees north and a longitude of 143.9 degrees east and occurred at a depth of 10 km.

Casualties or damage were not reported.