This may come as a surprise, but there are a lot of earthquakes in Japan. Just joking, everyone knows that. However, coming from living on the east coast of the United States, friends and family are continually worried when they hear of larger earthquakes in Japan.
If you are looking to visit Japan, don’t let the fear of the unknown stop you from coming! As not everyone lives in seismic regions, I thought it would be good to explain the situation from someone that experiences them quite often.
Quick Japanese lesson: 地震、jishin, is the word for earthquakes.
- Where to find information on earthquakes in Japan?
- Biggest Earthquakes in Japan I’ve experienced
- What effect can you expect on your lodging during an earthquake in Japan?
- Best earthquake story and Japan’s early warning system
- What to do when everything’s shaking?
- What’s your experience with earthquakes in Japan?
[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November of 2016 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]
Where to find information on earthquakes in Japan?
Something fun, at least I think, go check out the Japan Meteorological Agency website. This link is set straight to the English data on all earthquakes in Japan. It starts with you on the most recent data. However, you can click away to your heart’s content and see maps with intensity for every SINGLE earthquake as distinguished by the different colored dots and located as shown. Scroll down and you can see actual magnitude per city.
If you cycle through enough, you’ll start seeing a pattern of where the epicenters occur. It’s rare when one originates super close to Tokyo. However, we do feel them quite regularly. It depends on at what depth and where they come from. Usually at my house the website will rate intensity about a 3. Enough to feel it, especially for my friends in tall buildings.
Biggest Earthquakes in Japan I’ve experienced
On November 22, 2016, Fukushima Prefecture (yes, where the 2011 Earthquake hit with subsequent tsunami, nuclear fallout, etc.) was hit by a 7.3 earthquake. There were tsunami warnings but nothing compared to 2011 and no major incidents were reported.
I call that my biggest earthquake to date but even though it hit us as a 3 (I said it was usual, didn’t I?). The thing I notice with the higher magnitude quakes is how long they last. A closer earthquake with less intensity but still hitting us at a 3, will be over in a few seconds. This one seemed like a minute that it rolled. Yes, I mean rolled. It feels like you are going through a sin wave.
The weird thing with this one is that I woke up beforehand with this horrible sensation that something was not right with the world. Apparently, I have an internal sensor.
What effect can you expect on your lodging during an earthquake in Japan?
Smaller earthquakes will shake a bit but nothing will really be noticeable past that. Bigger ones the house creeks a bit and the doors will move (except for those I have pinned open, more on that in my post on Japanese houses). I remember earthquake drills growing up where you hid under tables, etc. We don’t do that here. Not for something that size. Maybe I should (don’t freak out, family) but even when I’m at work, everyone just looks around and says “oh, earthquake” or “jishin” as they are mostly native Japanese speakers.
When I moved to a high rise apartment and if I’m in a large hotel, I hardly ever feel them due to the construction methods Japan uses for dampening the effects. Older buildings you may feel them though.
My last largest earthquake (again from Fukushima area) was close to when I first moved here and was a 6.2. It was the middle of the night and it woke me up. The air conditioning unit for the master bedroom is directly over the bed (don’t think American type single units, these are way better – more later) and I remember thinking “hmmm, maybe I should move, that’s probably a good idea” when it seemed like forever before it stopped shaking. I never did move though and all is well.
Note, in this case, you should probably at least put a pillow over your head!
11/22/2016? I moved away from it, just in case.
Best earthquake story and Japan’s early warning system
My favorite so far was when I was in Tokyo DisneySea (not the time I stayed in Hotel MiraCosta, I go a lot) with a bunch of friends. We were in line for the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” ride that happens to take place in a giant manmade volcano. Seconds before it hit (and this one was close, just west of Tokyo, Disney is on the east side) everyone’s phone started making this horrible noise.
I knew they had that set automatically into every phone in Japan — I’d NEVER heard it go off until that point. Everyone looked around, quake rolled through, me and my friends looked at the ceiling, crew came and walked us out through the emergency exits but no one was hurt. Everything was orderly. Only downfall was most of the rides were then closed off and only opened back up to fastpass holders.
What to do when everything’s shaking?
Best I can tell, if the natives aren’t worried, don’t be worried. Especially in today’s standards of building construction in a land where they expect everything to move all the time. Japan is pretty innovative. Stay calm. I found this which is super helpful. If it feels like one of those higher ones, get out!
What’s your experience with earthquakes in Japan?
Leave me a note in the comments!
