A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 hit the eastern part of Japan, near Honshu, on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake shook the northern Ibaraki Prefecture at around 9:38 p.m. (local time).

The earthquake has a depth of 10 kilometers and is located 18 kilometers north-northeast of the town of Diago, according to USGS and Japanese Meteorological Agency. The USGS scaled the magnitude at 6.2 but later decreased it to 5.9, Reuters noted.

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Other cities including Tokyo are expected to experience the effects of the earthquake. So far, no tsunami alert was raised, and no immediate reports of the scale and damage of the tremor have been received, the Independent reported.

Yoshishide Suga, chief cabinet secretary, also said no irregularities have so far been detected particularly on the region's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where one of the worst nuclear accidents happened after the earthquake and tsunami on March 2011.             

Japan was also hit by two other strong quakes this year and both have caused great damage.

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