“7.9 quake off Japan rocks Tokyo buildings,” AP reports:

A 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Japan, shaking buildings violently as far away as Tokyo. The highest tsunami warning was issued for the country’s northeast coast.

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The quake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time off the coast of Sendai north of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. A wave of as high as 6 meters is expected to hit the coast of Miyagi prefecture, the agency said.

An updated report places the quake at a mammoth 8.8 rating. Steve Herman, a Voice of America journalist based in Seoul also has numerous updates on Twitter, including at least one possible tsunami sighting. There’s a photo of buildings on fire here.

CNN’s Lateef Mungin tweets, “There have been only 5 other earthquakes larger than this one since 1906.”

Breaking News on Twitter has numerous updates; more as it comes in will be posted here, and at the Tatler as well, the Pajamas group blog, which will likely have updates throughout the day on Friday.

Update: I revised this post at the Tatler (including the most recent magnitude rating of 8.9); where others are now posting updates as well.

Late Update: The rest of the gang is now starting to post updates at the Tatler; click here to be taken to the top of the homepage there and start scrolling. And Elizabeth Scalia a.k.a the Anchoress notes that Google has launched a person finder for Japan.