An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit the main northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on Friday evening, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Saturday, quoting the Meteorological Agency.

No casualties or damage has been reported .

The quake, which struck at 0320 (1820 gmt) was felt in the towns of Nakashibetsu, Kushiro, Nemuro and Bekkai in eastern Hokkaido, the agency said.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
 

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