Passengers check train schedules after train services were suspended following an earthquake at the Shinbashi station in Tokyo, in this photo taken by Kyodo May 30, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Late Saturday, at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills shopping and business complex, elevators stopped soon after the magnitude-8.5 earthquake struck the area, forcing hundreds of visitors to climb down the stairs. Among them were about 200 people who came to see the Star Wars exhibit on the 52nd floor.

In Saitama, a woman in her 70s sustained a minor head injury when a ceramic plate fell from a cupboard, local police said. In Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, a 56-year-old office worker fell down when the quake caught him by surprise and suffered a rib injury, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Yoshiyuki Sasamoto, a municipal official on Chichijima island, which is part of the Ogasawara island group, told NHK that he initially felt a mild tremor, but when he thought it was over "there was a violent shaking and I couldn't even stand on my feet."

At an inn on the Ogasawara island of Hahajima, furniture shook violently, although nothing fell or broke, innkeeper Michiko Orita told NHK. "It was so frightening. The entire house shook and a Buddhist altar violently swayed like I have never experienced before," she said, adding that all her guests were safe.

The meteorological agency did not issue a tsunami warning because the quake struck so far beneath the earth's surface. Deep offshore earthquakes usually do not cause tsunamis, and generally cause less damage than shallow ones.

In March 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake rocked northeastern Japan, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 18,500 people and ravaged much of the northern Pacific coast. The depth of that quake was just 24 kilometers (15 miles), according to the meteorological agency.