Tokyo, Dec. 12 -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 has hit Japan's northeastern region, prompting a tsunami advisory from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), local media reported.

The earthquake struck on Friday off the coast of Aomori Prefecture at 11:44 am local time (02:44 GMT) at a depth of 20km (12.4 miles), according to the JMA.

The Japanese weather agency on Friday issued a tsunami advisory for northern and northeastern Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the Pacific coast of Hokkaido, as well as Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, may see a tsunami of up to 1 metre following the temblor which struck at around 11:44 a.m. off the eastern part of Aomori at a depth of around 20 kilometres, Kyodo report...