An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale rocked wide areas in central Japan on Sunday noon, injuring five. Another milder quake hit the same area later in the afternoon. Five people sustained slight injuries in several places in Mie and Kyoto prefectures when the 12:19 p.m. quake occurred, Kyodo News said. A quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 shock the area again at 6:34 p.m.. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued no tsunami warnings after the quakes. The earlier quake, with an epicenter 16 kilometers underground in central Mie prefecture, also affected nearby prefectures including Nara, Shiga, Aichi Nagano, Wakayama, Ishikawa and others. The focus of the second quake was also in central Mie prefecture. A part of the stone wall of Kameyama Castle fell in Mie prefecture due to the earlier quake. Shinkansen bullet train service in the area was briefly suspended and later resumed. Parts of expressways in the areas were also closed due to the quake. Electronic device maker Sharp Corp. temporality suspended its liquid crystal production lines for safety checks at its flagship plant in Kameyama, Mie prefecture, Kyodo said. Some 4,300 households in Mie prefecture temporarily went without electricity and over a dozen houses and buildings were damaged in Kameyama city, the report said.
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