Tsunami warnings have been lifted for some densely populated Asia Pacific countries previously thought to be at risk after a huge earthquake hit Japan on Friday, as video showed the first signs of a tsunami appearing on beaches in Hawaii.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) reported wave changes at Waianae Harbour shortly before relatively small waves were seen at Waikiki.

Earlier, warnings were issued for the entire Pacific basin except mainland United States and Canada, and including Hawaii and extending from Mexico down to South American countries on the Pacific.

Australia and New Zealand, which had been on an initial warning list, were later removed. The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre confirmed there was no tsunami threat.

Indonesia's meteorological agency said its tsunami alert had been lifted, following Taiwan, which lifted its alert after evacuating its thinly populated east coast earlier on Friday.

Taiwan evacuated its east coast which is not heavily populated. Waves of about 10 centimetres high have reached the island but caused little damage, its central weather bureau said.

Small tsunami waves also hit the Philippines and Indonesia's eastern coastline without causing any damage.

The warning has also been lifted for Guam.

The tsunami is expected to head towards the Americas, where warnings are in effect for countries including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, as well as Russia, Fiji, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

The warning also extends to the northern and central California coast, the Oregon coast, and parts of Alaska. Residents have been urged to move inland and to higher ground.

An advisory, a lesser state of alert, was issued for southern California and the Washington coast, where residents were urged to clear beaches and stay out of marinas and harbours.

Hawaii was bracing for a tidal wave after a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan, 6,200 kilometres away, triggered a tsunami warning across most of the Pacific basin, including northern California and Oregon.

Hawaii's civil defence agency ordered all coastal areas, including the main tourist hub Honolulu, evacuated by 2:00am local time. The first tsunami waves began to wash up on Hawaiian shores just hours later.

The PTWC reported seeing wave changes at Waianae Harbor at around 3.24am local time, shortly before relatively small waves were seen at Waikiki.

No damage was reported from the waves, which were also reported on other islands in the Pacific archipelago state.

Waves were measured at 48 centimetres in Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai, according to officials at an emergency centre in Honolulu.

"It's not going to be a major damaging event," Gerard Fryer with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said as the surge began to hit, although he added there might be scattered damage.

Officials expect waves of up to two metres to hit Hawaii in the coming hours.

The alarm had been sounded some five hours before the waves hit. Police had set up road blocks on roadways heading into inundation zones about an hour before the tsunami arrived.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned the tsunami is currently higher than some Pacific islands which it could wash over.

The quake off Japan's north-east coast was the biggest in 140 years and triggered tsunami waves that swept across farmland, sweeping away homes, crops, vehicles and triggering fires.