Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent comments on a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan that could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan requiring her country’s use of force have triggered war of words between Tokyo and Beijing.

A powerful earthquake, with an upgraded magnitude of 6.9 and a depth of about 12 miles, struck off the coast of northern Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday defended her description of a conflict over Taiwan as potentially amounting to an existential risk for Japan after a Chinese diplomat accused her of meddling in Beijing’s internal affairs.

At a farmer's market not far from Tokyo, more than 100 shoppers queued for a chance to get a kilo or so of Japanese rice for 500 yen ($3.32) by carefully heaping as much of the grain into a small wooden box as possible.

A powerful earthquake has rattled northern Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. A tsunami advisory is lifted after 3 hours.

More and more Japanese companies are beating earnings expectations on growing AI demand, the smaller-than-expected impact of tariffs and the weak yen, in a sign the rally in equities can go further.

Japan said on Monday it had complained to China about "extremely inappropriate" remarks by one of its diplomats towards Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.