Small waves have reached the Japanese coast one day after a magnitude 8.3 earthquake hit Chile.
Japan's Meteorological Agency says a wave of 70 centimetres was seen on Friday (local time) in the port of Kuji in the Iwate prefecture, the area hit by the March 2011 disaster.
The agency issued a tsunami advisory earlier on Friday for the Japanese coast on the Pacific side, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south.
Agency official Yohei Hasegawa said the waves were moving toward the southwest.
He says the agency expects the swelling of the waves will continue for a while and could go as high as one metre, urging residents to stay away from the coast.
Smaller waves have been detected across the country.
One up to 40 centimetres was recorded in Erimo on Hokkaido and another of up to 20 centimetres in Fukushima.
No injury or damages have been reported from the waves, but some coastal towns have issued evacuation advisories as a precautionary step.
The northern Japanese coasts, especially those in Iwate, have been affected by tsunami induced by earthquakes near Chile in the past.
In 1960, a tsunami exceeding five metres hit the area, leaving 139 people dead.
AFP
