Buildings burn dow, as huge fires spread near Sendai airport.
The tsunami swirls near a port in Oarai. Tsunami warnings have been issued to most of thecountries that surround the Pacific Ocean, including the entire west coast of the USA.
The bodies were found in Sendai city, the closest major city to the epicentre, said police.
The magnitude 8.9 quake and 23ft tsunami were followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicentre.
Earlier, police confirmed at least 60 people have been killed and 56 are missing but the death toll is likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster.
The tsunami swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.
Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the US west coast.
The Japanese government has ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in Onahama city to evacuate because the plant's system was unable to cool the reactor.
The reactor is not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles north-east of Tokyo.
"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," prime minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.
Light planes and vehicles sit among the debris after they were swept by a tsunami that struck Sendai airport in northern Japan. The earthquake was eight-thousand times more powerful than the one that devastated Christchurch in New Zealand earlier this year.
People have been urged to be cautious because of the risk of further shocks. This picture shows damage in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture.
Thousands of people crowd the streets in Tokyo due to the severe disruption to the public transport in the city.
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