The Meteorological Agency has issued an advisory for possible tremors in and around Kumamoto Prefecture in western Japan.

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurred in the prefecture at around 6:10 PM on Thursday. It registered an intensity of 6-minus on the Japanese scale of zero to seven in the town of Nagomi.

The quake shook wide areas in the Kyushu, Shikoku, and Chugoku regions.

Meteorological Agency officials say a strong quake is often followed by intense tremors within a few days. They say people should be on the alert over the next week or so.

Following the quake, JR Kyushu suspended Shinkansen train service between Hakata and Kumamoto stations. The cancellations affected people returning home from New Year's vacations. And nearly 300 passengers were trapped for up to 6 hours on two trains.

Service was back to normal on Friday.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority says there were no reports of abnormalities at nuclear power plants in the area.