BERLIN, Germany (Xinhua) - The German government Wednesday advised its citizens to leave Tokyo's metropolitan area and other northern regions of Japan, as fears of radiation spread were growing over a quake-stricken nuclear power plant.

"We call on all Germans to leave the region of Tokyo and Yokohama" and to make their way to the southern city of Osaka or leave the country via Osaka, German foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said in a briefing.

The ministry also warned against any trip to the quake-crippled part of Japan, where a magnitude-9 earthquake and the following tsunami on Friday claimed thousands of people's lives and caused immeasurable loss.

Since Saturday, several explosions and fires rocked the coastal Fukushima nuclear power plant, pushing radiation near the area to harmful levels. Some reactors are facing dangers of nuclear meltdown.

The Japanese government has set up a 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the nuclear plant and asked people living in 10 kilometers beyond zone to stay indoors.

In Japan's capital Tokyo, 250 kilometers away from the crisis- hit plant, higher-than-normal level of radiation was detected. Officials said it has not come to a dangerous level at the moment.

The German Foreign Ministry said that its embassy in Tokyo is still working so far, but some of its functions have been transferred to its Osaka office in order to better the coordination and evacuation.

On Tuesday, German airline Lufthansa said that it was diverting all Tokyo-bound flights to other Japanese cities through at least Sunday.