Earthquakes in Japan through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 1,221 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Japan. 156 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 9.1 on March 11, 2011 (2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake, Japan).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 20 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.7 on October 21 (33 km NE of Shizunai-furukawachō, Japan). The strongest: magnitude 5.3 on October 1 (0 km NNE of Yōkaichiba, Japan).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 8 on September 1, 1923 (Tokyo, Yokohama), for which NOAA records 105,385 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 433 here, back to 4351 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 251 of the events here, 333,636 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.8 on July 28, 2026 (The 2026 Kumamoto Region, Japan Earthquake). NOAA’s record here begins in 4351 BCE with an eruption (Kikai). It grows thinner going back: 229 of the 433 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 332 tsunamis that began in or off Japan, and 21 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 90 m, on August 29, 1741. The deadliest, on September 20, 1498, killed 31,201 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 147 significant eruptions of 39 volcanoes in or off Japan. The largest was Kikai in 4351 BCE, at 7 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Unzendake on May 21, 1792, which killed 15,000 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- July 28, 2026Earthquake · M 6.8The 2026 Kumamoto Region, Japan Earthquake · 38 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 11, 2011Earthquake · M 9.12011 Great Tohoku Earthquake, Japan · 18,423 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 2, 1933Earthquake · M 8.41933 Sanriku (Sanriku-oki) Earthquake, Japan · 3,022 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 1, 1923Earthquake · M 8.0Tokyo, Yokohama · 105,385 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 15, 1896Earthquake · M 8.3 (est.)Sanriku · 27,122 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 21, 1792Eruption · VEI 2Unzendake · 15,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 29, 1741Tsunami · 90 m hereW. Hokkaido Island · 1,607 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- September 20, 1498Tsunami · 10 m hereEnshunada Sea · 31,201 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- May 27, 1293Earthquake · M 7.1 (est.)Kamakura · 23,024 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 26, 887Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)NankaidoNOAA NCEI
- July 13, 869Earthquake · M 8.6 (est.)SanrikuNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- November 29, 684Earthquake · M 8.4 (est.)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 4351 BCEEruption · VEI 7KikaiNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Japan when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Japan is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Japan, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history