Quake hits northern Japan but causes little damage

TOKYO, Japan - A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit Aomori and Iwate prefecture in northern Japan in the early morning on Wednesday, but there has been no casualties so far, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The quake, which struck at around 2:46 a.m. local time (1746 GMT), did not cause tsunami nor was there any damage at a nuclear fuel preprocessing plant in the area, it reported.  -- Reuters