Recent earthquake activity
Earthquakes in Japan: latest news, today and the last 30 days
Japan sits where four tectonic plates meet and experiences roughly a fifth of the world’s strongest earthquakes. Offshore megathrust events here can generate destructive tsunamis, as in the 2011 Tohoku disaster.
Updated 2026-10-21 06:14 UTC
Latest earthquake news in Japan
The most notable recent events in Japan, newest first. Each links to its own page with the full record, a map and felt reports. This page is rebuilt every 30 minutes.
- M 4.5 near Honchō, Japan
Felt by 7 people · community intensity III (weak) · depth 90.3 km · 2 km N of Honchō, Japan
- M 4.4 100 km ESE of Takahagi, Japan
depth 36.1 km · 100 km ESE of Takahagi, Japan
- M 4.4 near Kesennuma, Japan
depth 56.6 km · 45 km SSE of Ōfunato, Japan
Japan earthquake activity at a glance
What the last 30 days look like in Japan
13 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or above were recorded in the last 7 days, down from 32 the week before. In the last 24 hours: 1.
The largest was M5.3 on October 1, 0 km NNE of Yōkaichiba, Japan, 41.6 km deep, and 25 people reported feeling it.
The most widely felt was not the largest: M4.9, 5 km S of Sakai, Japan, with 69 reports.
Map of recent earthquakes in Japan and the surrounding area
Circle size shows magnitude and color shows depth. Select a marker to highlight its event below.
Every recorded event
115 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0+ recorded in Japan and the surrounding area in the last 30 days. The newest 60 are shown.
Both the USGS global catalog and the EMSC European-Mediterranean catalog are used here, deduplicated — EMSC records the small local events the global catalog does not. 61 of the events below come from EMSC.
M 4.1 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
M 3.6 17 km ENE of China, Japan
M 3.1 8 km W of Hagi, Japan
M 3.3 2 km SW of Kitakata, Japan
M 3.1 28 km WNW of Hyūga, Japan
M 3.0 4 km E of Wakasu, Japan
M 3.2 2 km E of Chiba, Japan
M 4.4 100 km ESE of Takahagi, Japan
M 3.6 9 km E of Honmachi, Japan
M 3.5 9 km E of Honmachi, Japan
M 3.1 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
M 4.4 45 km SSE of Ōfunato, Japan
M 3.4 2 km E of Panshan, China
M 3.5 23 km WSW of Onagawa Chō, Japan
M 3.8 14 km NNW of Anan, Japan
M 3.5 1 km ENE of Sashiki, Japan
M 4.1 81 km NE of Esashi, Japan
M 4.4 54 km E of Miyako, Japan
M 3.3 19 km SSE of Akkeshi, Japan
M 4.5 53 km S of Kushiro, Japan
M 4.6 Volcano Islands, Japan region
M 4.7 6 km ESE of Tōgane, Japan
M 3.1 4 km E of Wakasu, Japan
M 3.5 33 km E of Oshima, Japan
M 3.0 5 km NE of Tōkōji, Japan
M 4.6 21 km NW of Onagawa Chō, Japan
M 4.4 28 km SSE of Nemuro, Japan
M 4.0 9 km ENE of Nakatonbetsu, Japan
M 4.2 195 km WSW of Fukaura, Japan
M 3.5 11 km S of Sashiki, Japan
M 3.3 17 km NW of Nemuro, Japan
M 4.2 99 km ENE of Noda, Japan
M 4.7 Izu Islands, Japan region
M 3.6 40 km W of Tanohata, Japan
M 4.6 124 km ESE of Iwaki, Japan
M 3.8 40 km NNW of Nemuro, Japan
M 3.0 1 km N of Honmachi, Japan
M 3.7 27 km NNE of Yudomari, Japan
M 4.3 3 km SSW of Funaishikawa, Japan
M 3.1 1 km N of Honmachi, Japan
M 4.6 9 km NNE of Midori, Japan
M 4.9 3 km WSW of Shibayama, JapanFelt · 4
M 4.3 Volcano Islands, Japan region
M 3.5 59 km N of Yudomari, Japan
M 4.2 101 km ENE of Noda, Japan
M 4.5 25 km ESE of Iwaki, Japan
M 3.4 1 km E of Isehara, Japan
M 4.6 Izu Islands, Japan region
M 4.3 42 km SW of Urakawa, Japan
M 4.7 76 km NNE of Yonakuni, Japan
M 3.1 12 km SSE of Ōzu, Japan
M 4.3 Bonin Islands, Japan region
M 4.0 33 km NNW of Uken, Japan
M 3.0 2 km SE of Kotohira, Japan
M 3.4 28 km NW of Kamaishi, Japan
M 3.9 9 km W of Miyakojima, Japan
M 4.3 Izu Islands, Japan region
M 4.8 112 km S of Koshima, Japan
M 3.5 9 km E of Honmachi, Japan
Get earthquake alerts for Japan
SeismoWatch pushes a notification to your Android phone within minutes of an earthquake in Japan — at whatever magnitude you choose. No account, no spam.
Frequently asked questions
Was there an earthquake in Japan today?
Yes — 1 earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or above was recorded in the last 24 hours. The most recent was M4.5 near Honchō, Japan, 5 h ago. The list on this page is rebuilt every 30 minutes, newest first.
How many earthquakes does Japan get?
115 of magnitude 3.0 or above in the last 30 days, 13 of them in the last 7. Most are too small to feel; that is normal for a seismically active region.
What was the biggest recent earthquake in Japan?
Magnitude 5.3 on October 1, 2026, 0 km NNE of Yōkaichiba, Japan, at a depth of 41.6 km. 25 people reported feeling it.
How deep are earthquakes in Japan?
In the last 30 days they ranged from 0.0 km to 277.9 km deep. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly near the epicentre; deep ones are felt weakly over a wider area.
How can I get earthquake alerts for Japan?
Install the free SeismoWatch Android app, draw a box over Japan, set a minimum magnitude, and turn alerts on. Alerts are sent after an event is published, so they are not an early warning.
Where does this data come from?
From the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) global catalog and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), deduplicated. Each event links to its own page with the full record.
The strongest earthquakes recorded in Japan since 1960
The 10 largest events of magnitude 6.0 or above in the Japan monitoring area, from the USGS catalog. Recent activity is best read against this: a region's ordinary weeks look very different from its worst days.
| Magnitude | Location | Date | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| M 9.1 | 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake, Japan | March 11, 2011 | 29.0 km |
| M 8.2 | 1968 Tokachi-Oki Earthquake | May 16, 1968 | 26.9 km |
| M 8.2 | 2003 Tokachi-Oki Earthquake | September 25, 2003 | 27.0 km |
| M 8.0 | 113 km ENE of Miyako, Japan | March 20, 1960 | 15.0 km |
| M 7.9 | 70 km S of Honchō, Japan | May 16, 1968 | 31.1 km |
| M 7.9 | 47 km E of Ōarai, Japan | March 11, 2011 | 42.6 km |
| M 7.8 | Bonin Islands, Japan region | May 30, 2015 | 664.0 km |
| M 7.8 | off the east coast of Honshu, Japan | December 28, 1994 | 26.5 km |
| M 7.7 | 19 km ESE of Nemuro, Japan | June 17, 1973 | 48.0 km |
| M 7.7 | 68 km ESE of Ishinomaki, Japan | June 12, 1978 | 44.0 km |
Coverage and data notes
Events are preliminary, so magnitudes and locations may be revised. This page uses a rectangular monitoring area around Japan, so border areas and nearby offshore zones can include events outside the administrative boundary. Completeness varies: a national network usually records more small earthquakes than the catalogs used here, so treat the counts as a floor rather than a census.
Event data: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), in Venezuela FUNVISIS and in Brazil the RSBR through the Centro de Sismologia da USP. Populated places and time zones: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Preliminary solutions are revised as more observations arrive.