Japan's meteorological agency has issued a tsunami warning and told Pacific coast residents to flee to higher ground after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.1 hit near islands north of the country.

A tsunami about 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall or higher could hit the Pacific coast of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido and main island of Honshu after 9:10 p.m. (1210 GMT), the agency said.

An official from the town of Shibetsu on Hokkaido, Kiyoshi Takimoto, told public broadcater NHK that about 4,000 of the town's 6,100 residents lived along the coast and had been told to flee to higher ground.