Earthquakes in Japan

Japan records earthquakes steadily rather than in isolated bursts, with 41 events in the past 30 days, and 253 of the events on record reached magnitude 5 or above — the level at which damage becomes a genuine concern for vulnerable construction. Japan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the depth distribution below shows the subducting slab beneath it directly.

1,223 earthquakes have been recorded in Japan in our catalogue, 41 of them in the past 30 days.

The average magnitude is 4.7 and the average focal depth 74 km. 1222 events reached magnitude 4 or above and 253 reached magnitude 5 or above.

The strongest earthquake recorded in Japan in this period was a magnitude 7.6 event near Misawa, Japan on 08 December 2025, at a depth of 51 km. A magnitude 7.6 earthquake radiates roughly 3.8 million tons of TNT equivalent in seismic energy.

Locations recording the most events include Tatsugō (116), Yamada (80), Miyako (64), Hirara (39), Noda (36).

77% of events here are shallow (under 70 km), 15% intermediate (70–300 km) and 8% deep-focus (over 300 km). That proportion of deep-focus events is the signature of a subduction zone: only a cold slab descending into the mantle stays brittle enough to rupture at those depths.

The deepest event on record here was a magnitude 5.3 earthquake at 535 km beneath Volcano Islands, Japan on 07 January 2025.

By band, the catalogue holds 1 in the magnitude 3 range, 969 in the magnitude 4 range, 225 in the magnitude 5 range, 22 in the magnitude 6 range, 6 in the magnitude 7 range.

The busiest single day was 09 November 2025, with 29 recorded events.

6 of these events carry a USGS link to NOAA tsunami information. That link flag does not mean a tsunami occurred or that a warning was issued.