He added that it was not particularly significant that there had been three earthquakes in northern Japan since May.
"In a seismically active place like this, it's not strange to go through a period where there are several small earthquakes close together about once every 10 years," he said. "Just one of the things we have to put up with for living here."
Hokkaido, about the size of Austria, is the second largest of Japan's four main islands and has a population of more than 5 million. The capital, Sapporo, hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics.
Japanese still have vivid memories of an earthquake in the western city of Kobe that killed more than 6,400 people eight years ago. That quake measured 7.2 on the Richter scale.
Also See Story:
No Taiwanese injured in massive Japanese quake
RSS