This page tracks recent earthquakes in Japan using live data from the USGS. For every event you can see the magnitude, depth in kilometres, location and the time it occurred, and the map below plots recent seismic activity across Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and the Ryukyu and Izu–Bonin island chains. The data refreshes automatically every few minutes, so the list and map always reflect the latest recorded quakes.
Earthquake Activity in Japan
Japan is one of the most seismically active countries on Earth because four tectonic plates meet beneath and around the islands: the Pacific, Philippine Sea, Eurasian and North American plates. The Pacific plate dives westwards beneath northern Japan at the Japan Trench, while the Philippine Sea plate subducts beneath south-west Japan at the Nankai Trough and the Sagami Trough.
That geometry creates several distinct patterns of activity. Offshore megathrust earthquakes along the Japan Trench and Nankai Trough can reach very large magnitudes and generate tsunamis; shallow inland quakes on crustal faults, such as the one that struck Kobe in 1995, are smaller but can be destructive because they occur directly beneath populated areas; and deep events within the subducting slab occur down to several hundred kilometres beneath the Sea of Japan.
Depth is therefore a key part of reading any Japanese earthquake. A shallow quake under 20 km concentrates strong shaking close to its epicentre, while a deep slab event of the same magnitude feels weaker at the surface but is often noticed across a much wider area of the country. Each event on this page lists its depth in kilometres alongside the magnitude.
Magnitude measures energy released at the source on a logarithmic scale, so each whole step up is roughly 32 times more energy. Events below about M3 usually pass unnoticed, M4 to M5 quakes are widely felt, and M6 and above can damage buildings depending on depth, distance and local ground conditions. Japan’s building codes and early-warning system are built around exactly these differences.
The map plots each recorded earthquake in Japan at its epicentre. Circle size and colour reflect magnitude, so larger and stronger events stand out immediately. Select any marker to see the full reading — magnitude, depth, coordinates and time — or change the time range to view the past hour, day, week, month or year.
Data source: USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. Enable JavaScript for the live interactive map.