A series of mild earthquakes shook Tokyo on Wednesday, swaying buildings and raising fears of a long-anticipated major jolt, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. Three tremors were strong enough to be felt by most people in Tokyo buildings. The last one at around 8:44 pm (1155 GMT) was the strongest, with a preliminary reading of magnitude 4.2. The others clocked readings of 3.7 and 3.9.
The focus of the quakes was about 50 km (31 miles) below the sea in the Tokyo Bay, just off the nation's capital, the meteorological agency said.
Tokyo's last major earthquake in 1923 killed more than 140,000 people in the capital and surrounding area and many believe Tokyo is long overdue for another.