The tsunami from an earthquake in Chile hit Japans main islands on Sunday, but the initial waves washed ashore without causing any damage after sparing most of the Pacific islands that were in its path. Japans Meteorological Agency said the biggest wave in the initial tsunami following the magnitude 8.8 quake off Chile was recorded in northern Japan. It was 35 inches (90 centimeters) high. Another, measuring about 12 inches (30 centimeters), was observed in Hokkaido, also to the north. There were no reports of damage. As it crossed the Pacific, the tsunami dealt populated areas including the U.S. state of Hawaii just a glancing blow. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre already lifted its warning for every country but Russia and Japan, though some countries in Asia and the Pacific including the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand were keeping their own watches in place as a precaution. The tsunami initially raised fears that the Pacific could fall victim to the type of killer waves that killed 2,30,000 people in the Indian Ocean in 2004 the morning after Christmas. During that disaster, there was little to no warning and much confusion about the impending waves. Officials said the opposite occurred after the Chile quake: They overstated their predictions for the size of the waves and the threat. We expected the waves to be bigger in Hawaii, maybe about 50 percent bigger than they actually were, said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning centre. Well be looking at that. But Japan, fearing the tsunami could gain force as it moved closer, put all of its eastern coastline on tsunami alert on Sunday and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground as waves generated by the Chilean earthquake raced across the Pacific at hundreds of miles (kilometers) per hour. Japan is particularly sensitive to the tsunami threat.