"It's a race against time," Takaichi said in an update on Wednesday morning.The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) measured the earthquake magnitude at 7.1 and the US Geological Survey later placed it at 6.8. It holds department stores, boutiques, pharmacies and food courts.Elsewhere, footage aired by NHK showed cracked roads and bridges and several buildings on fire. "I just heard glasses flying in the kitchen and everything in the kitchen started breaking. You're looking around waiting for it to stop," he told BBC's Newshour programme. "In Japan the buildings are built to move with the earth but it feels like the building beneath you turns into liquid.