Offbeat Japan
Offbeat Japan
Track earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons across Japan in real time. Japan sits where four tectonic plates meet, so the ground here is quietly busy almost every day. This map refreshes constantly with earthquakes detected across the country over the past seven days, using the official feed from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Each marker is coloured by its shindo, Japan’s 0-to-7 seismic intensity scale, which measures the shaking felt on the ground rather than the energy released at the epicentre. When a tsunami advisory or warning is in effect, it shows along the affected coast and in a banner at the top. Active typhoons near Japan appear here too, so the whole country’s live natural hazards sit on one page, use the day buttons to jump to Now, Yesterday or an earlier day.
The map above colours every earthquake by its shindo, the Japanese intensity scale. It does not measure the energy released at the epicentre, that is what magnitude is for, but what the shaking actually does where you are standing. So an earthquake has one magnitude and as many shindo values as there are towns that felt it. Ten levels, from 0 to 7, with a lower and an upper degree at levels 5 and 6.
| Shindo | What you feel, what moves |
|---|---|
| 0 | Imperceptible. Only seismometers record it. |
| 1 | Felt slightly by some people sitting still indoors. |
| 2 | Felt by many people sitting still indoors; some sleepers wake. Hanging lamps swing slightly. |
| 3 | Felt by most people indoors, and by some people walking. Dishes rattle in cupboards. |
| 4 | Most people are startled and wake up. Lamps swing noticeably, unstable ornaments fall. Noticeable while driving. |
| 5 lower | Many people are frightened and reach for something to hold. Items fall off shelves, unsecured furniture moves, windows may break. |
| 5 upper | Walking is difficult without holding on. TVs fall off their stands, unreinforced concrete-block walls may collapse, cars stop. |
| 6 lower | Standing is difficult. Much unsecured furniture topples, doors jam shut, wall tiles and windows fall. |
| 6 upper | Impossible to stand: you move by crawling. Most unsecured furniture topples, most concrete-block walls collapse. |
| 7 | Most furniture topples or is thrown through the air. Even reinforced concrete-block walls may collapse. |
In practice, the vast majority of the earthquakes on this map are shindo 1 or 2: you would not notice them while walking. The threshold that matters to a traveller is shindo 5 lower, the point at which the JMA issues the emergency alert that reaches every phone in the country. Descriptions adapted from the Japan Meteorological Agency official scale.
No. Japan shakes every day, but the overwhelming majority of quakes are imperceptible or harmless, and its seismic building codes are among the strictest in the world (reinforced since 1981). In fifteen years here, earthquakes have mostly been notifications on my phone.
Don’t run outside: drop, protect your head (under a table if you can), stay away from windows and wait for the shaking to stop. Hotels are built to take it. Install the official Safety Tips app, which relays JMA alerts in several languages.
Magnitude measures the quake’s energy (one number per event); Japan’s shindo scale (0 to 7) measures the intensity actually felt at each location. A magnitude-7 quake offshore can be a shindo 2 in Tokyo: shindo, shown on my map, is what tells you how hard it shook where you are.
The JMA issues alerts within ~3 minutes, relayed everywhere (phones, NHK, sirens). The rule near the coast: if the shaking is strong or long, head for high ground without waiting for the alert. To dig deeper, see my guide to earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan.
Questions about earthquakes or typhoons? Our practical traveler guides: earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and typhoon season in Japan.
A note: this page is for information and curiosity, not emergency response, and it is not an official warning system. If you are in Japan during a strong earthquake or a tsunami alert, follow the instructions of the JMA and NHK, and head for higher ground the moment you’re told to.