A strong earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale jolted Japan's Tohoku and Kanto regions Saturday morning, said the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The quake occurred at 11:39 a.m. local time (0239 GMT), said the agency, which has issued tsunami warning to coastal areas in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.

The agency said that it detected a 20-cm-high tsunami at 12:21 (0321 GMT) in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.

The epicenter of the quake, 37.627 north latitude and 142.111 east longitude, was 303 km from Tokyo, U.S. Geographical Survey said. It put the scale of the quake at 7.0 magnitude.

There were no immediate reports of damages or casualties.

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2008)