Japan PM cancels Asia trip over megaquake advisory

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on August 9 canceled his planned four-day trip to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia, as the weather agency warned that the risk of a potential massive earthquake in a vast area of the Pacific stretching from southwestern to central Japan has increased, Report informs referring to Kyodo News.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the first such advisory for areas around the Nankai Trough hours after a magnitude-7.1 quake hit the country's southwest on Thursday.

Kishida, who attended the peace ceremony in Nagasaki marking the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city, announced the cancellation at a press conference.

He was set to attend Japan's first-ever summit with the Central Asian nations -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Friday night and issue a joint declaration.