A strong earthquake has rocked Tokyo's Toshima Island. It registered five minus on Japan's seismic intensity scale of zero to seven.

The quake occurred at around 6:09 p.m. on Friday, local time.

Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has sent a message of condolence to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the country.

Suga said he was saddened to hear that the quake left many people dead and caused heavy damage.

Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide says his government will do its utmost to rebuild the areas hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Suga was speaking on Friday at the first meeting of his Cabinet's taskforce on reconstruction from the disaster.

People in Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido are remembering the victims of a powerful earthquake that struck exactly two years ago. The quake left 44 people dead and 785 injured.

The town of Atsuma was hardest hit, with 37 deaths. Many of those who died were engulfed in massive mudslides triggered by the jolt.

Japan's Meteorological Agency has apologized for a false earthquake alert issued for a wide area of eastern Japan on Thursday, blaming it on a technical glitch.

At around 9:38 a.m., the agency issued the alert for a strong earthquake that would hit Tokyo and its surrounding regions of Kanto, Koshin-etsu and Tokai, as well as Fukushima Prefecture, with an expected intensity of 4 to 5-plus on a scale of 0 to 7. It was said to be centered in the Pacific Ocean, south of the Boso Peninsula, near Tokyo.

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck the Kanto region around 6:05 a.m. on Thursday, local time.

There is no risk of tsunami.

An earthquake struck the Tohoku region of northern Japan at around 5:39 a.m. on Monday, local time.

It had an estimated magnitude of 6.1. The focus was off the coast of Miyagi prefecture at a depth of 50 kilometers. Officials say there is no risk of tsunami.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his government will secure funds necessary to implement reconstruction projects in areas affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Abe made the remark on Tuesday, at a joint meeting between the reconstruction taskforce and the nuclear disaster taskforce. His instruction comes one day before the ninth anniversary of the disaster in northeastern Japan.

Young men and women in northeastern Japan have talked about their hopes for rebuilding towns that were devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Many local governments in those areas held Coming of Age ceremonies on Sunday, one day before the national holiday to celebrate the occasion.