Japan's shinkansen "bullet" train resumed operations in western Japan yesterday, one day after a strong earthquake killed two people and forced 3,500 passengers to spend the night on that and other trains.
Two people were killed and more than 150 injured - one seriously - by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Saturday.
A 50-year-old woman was crushed by a falling balcony in the city of Hojo and a woman aged 80 was killed in Hiroshima. Dozens of people were treated in local hospitals for injuries caused by falling masonry and broken glass.
The epicentre of the 20-second quake was reported to be 37 miles below the seabed south of Hiroshima.
Two nuclear power plants in Ehime and Shimane were said to be operating as normal. Survivors described on television how they fled outside as their houses swayed and windows shattered behind them.
Japan sits on a series of seismic fault lines and has thousands of earthquakes a year. The 1995 Kobe quake, which killed 6,000 people, was a brutal reminder that a particularly strong quake can still bring devastation.
