Nearly 2 million people were asked to evacuate on Wednesday as Japanese authorities warned that waves could remain high for at least a day.
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Large waves caused water levels to rise across Japan after a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia's Far East triggered a tsunami warning across the Pacific.
Waves of more than 1.22 metres were recorded by domestic media at Kuji port in the northern Iwate Prefecture, with video footage showing water swelling.
Authorities said that a tsunami as high as 60 centimetres had been detected as swell moved south along the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Tokyo Bay. Officials warned that larger waves could still come.
Local media reported one death — a woman in her 50s who died as her car fell over a cliff when heading to an evacuation site in the city of Kumano, and one minor injury in the Hokkaido prefecture.
Japan's Meteorological Agency later lowered its tsunami alert to an advisory on the Pacific coast south of Fukushima. The warnings for the belt from the eastern Ibaraki region down to the southern Wakayama region have been downgraded to "advisories," the country's weather agency said on its website.
The alert is still in place further north in the country.
Japanese authorities warned the nearly 2 million residents asked to evacuate that they might not be able to return home by the day's end.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said waves could remain high for at least one day, and urged evacuees to take precautions and stay well hydrated in the summer heat.
The quake overnight on Wednesday triggered tsunami waves and warnings across the Pacific, including parts of Hawaii, North, Central and South America and the Pacific islands.