Earthquakes in Japan, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 1,041 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Japan. 112 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 23 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 12 (53 km S of Kushiro, Japan). The strongest: magnitude 5.3 on October 1 (0 km NNE of Yōkaichiba, Japan).
What the record holds
It was also the deadliest: NOAA records 18,423 deaths for it. 229 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 131 of the events here, 45,767 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.8 on July 28, 2026 (The 2026 Kumamoto Region, Japan Earthquake). NOAA lists 174 tsunamis that began in or off Japan, and 12 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 55.88 m, on March 11, 2011. The deadliest, on March 11, 2011, killed 15,939 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 80 significant eruptions of 27 volcanoes in or off Japan. The largest was Hokkaido-Komagatake on June 17, 1929, at 4 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Akagisan on September 16, 1947, which killed 699 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 11, 2011Tsunami · 55.88 m hereHonshu Island · 15,939 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 25, 2003Earthquake · M 8.22003 Tokachi-Oki Earthquake · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 16, 1995Earthquake · M 6.98 km S of Akashi, Japan · 6,434 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 16, 1968Earthquake · M 8.21968 Tokachi-Oki Earthquake · 52 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- June 28, 1948Earthquake · M 6.83 km W of Maruoka, Japan · 5,131 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 16, 1947EruptionAkagisan · 699 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 20, 1946Earthquake · M 8.3Honshu: S Coast · 1,362 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
- June 17, 1929Eruption · VEI 4Hokkaido-Komagatake · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA 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