An earthquake off Japan’s northern Pacific coast has rattled some of the country’s most popular coastal regions, triggering tsunami alerts, injuring more than 50 people and prompting officials to issue a rare “megaquake” advisory along almost 800 miles of coastline.
The magnitude 7.5 quake struck at 11.15pm local time on Monday, about 80 kilometres off the coast of Aomori Prefecture at a depth of just over 50 kilometres, Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Japan sits on the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire” and has faced a string of major tremors in recent years, including the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people.
In Monday’s quake, at least 51 people were injured across Aomori, Hokkaido and Iwate – mostly by falling objects or shattered glass – and two small fires were reported in Aomori City, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) said. Around 2,700 homes temporarily lost power, about 1,360 households were left without running water due to damaged pipes and 187 schools in Aomori and Hokkaido suspended classes while checks were carried out.
There were no reports of deaths or serious damage to critical infrastructure, and regulators said there were no safety issues at nearby nuclear facilities, although a small amount of water sloshed from a spent fuel pool at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and the release of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant was briefly paused as a precaution.
Tsunami warnings of up to three metres were issued for parts of the northern Pacific coast, forcing around 90,000 residents in Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate prefectures to move to higher ground or evacuation centres as sirens sounded through the night. Tsunami waves of up to 70cm were later observed at several ports before warnings were downgraded and lifted early on Tuesday morning.
The JMA later issued a rare “subsequent earthquake advisory”, saying the probability of an even larger magnitude eight quake along parts of the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Chiba near Tokyo had risen from about 0.1 per cent to around 1 per cent over the coming week. Officials stressed that the risk remains low but urged residents in 182 coastal municipalities to review evacuation plans and stay alert for strong aftershocks. Here are the latest updates.
The information in this story is current as of 11am GMT time on Wednesday 10 December 2025. Check back for the latest updates.
Jump to…
- What happened in the Japan earthquake?
- Which areas of Japan have been affected by the earthquake?
- Is it safe to travel to Japan right now?
- Which airlines and train services have been disrupted by the Japan earthquake?
- Will a megaquake strike Japan?
- What is a megaquake?
- Where could a megaquake hit in Japan?
What happened in the Japan earthquake?
A powerful earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Japan's Aomori Prefecture at 11.15pm local time on Monday, 8 December.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency recorded the magnitude at 7.5 on its initial reports, with the epicentre lying roughly 80km offshore at a depth of around 44km, caused by thrust faulting –where one tectonic plate is forced beneath another along the Japan Trench. The shaking lasted for around 30 seconds and was felt as far away as Tokyo.
Within minutes, the JMA issued tsunami warnings for Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, as harbour cameras showed the sea pulling back then rushing in. Ports along the northeast rim, including Kuji in Iwate and Urakawa in Hokkaido, recorded waves of up to 70cm.
By 6.30am on Tuesday, all tsunami warnings and advisories had been cancelled as gauges showed the waves subsiding. Nevertheless, the government’s disaster taskforce remains on high alert, with aftershocks including at least one magnitude-6.6 event rattling the region, and a “subsequent earthquake advisory” remaining in force along the Pacific side of northern Honshu and Hokkaido for the coming week.
Which areas of Japan have been affected by the earthquake?
Tohoku and northern Honshu (Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi)
This is the area closest to the epicentre and has seen the strongest shaking and tsunami impact. Towns such as Hachinohe and Kuji have reported injuries, broken glass, toppled shelves and cracked or heaved road surfaces. In Hachinohe, building facades and shop windows were damaged, while a damaged road in Tōhoku town left one car stuck in a large depression. Two small fires were reported in Aomori City and a hospital in Mutsu had to evacuate patients after a sprinkler system failure. Around 1,360 homes in Aomori and Iwate lost water service due to broken pipes.
Hokkaido
New Chitose Airport near Sapporo closed runways temporarily for inspections, and part of a domestic terminal ceiling collapsed, stranding around 200 passengers overnight, although there have been no reports of serious injuries at the airport. A handful of people in Tomakomai were hurt in falls, and some coastal communities experienced short-lived power cuts. Resorts in central and northern Hokkaido – including popular winter destinations like Furano and Niseko – are well away from the epicentre and have so far reported little more than minor rattling and brief power flickers.
Tokyo and central Honshu
The capital felt a prolonged but moderate tremor. Trains briefly slowed or paused as automatic safety systems kicked in, but services have mostly returned to normal. There are no reports of significant damage in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya or Kyoto.
Western Japan (Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Okinawa)
Western and southern regions, including Kansai, Kyushu and Okinawa, are largely unaffected. Flights, ferries and Shinkansen services in these areas are operating normally.
Is it safe to travel to Japan right now?
If your trip is to Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, it is currently safe to travel, although it's worth considering the risk of aftershocks. However, if you're planning on visiting coastal parts of Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi or southern Hokkaido, be sure to stay tuned to the latest updates from JMA.
So far, major governments have not advised against travel to Japan. The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has updated its pages to note the 7.5-magnitude quake and to confirm that all tsunami advisories have been lifted, while warning of the possibility of another strong earthquake in the coming days and urging visitors to follow local advice.
Australia’s Smartraveller currently keeps Japan at its lowest “exercise normal safety precautions” level, albeit with longstanding reminders that earthquakes are common and that travellers should familiarise themselves with local emergency procedures.
The US Embassy in Tokyo has issued an alert summarising the quake, tsunami warnings and the subsequent ‘megaquake’ advisory, and encouraging US citizens to stay away from affected coasts, monitor local media and be ready to move to higher ground if advised.
Which airlines and train services have been disrupted by the Japan earthquake?
Japan’s transport network is built to withstand earthquakes, but even so, a tremor of this magnitude briefly forced operators to halt services until engineers can check tracks. East Japan Railway suspended Tohoku Shinkansen bullet trains between Fukushima and Shin-Aomori immediately after the quake. As inspections have progressed, most services have now resumed, but at least 26 trains were cancelled or delayed by up to 70 minutes, affecting around 17,000 passengers, and one northbound service was stranded in Aomori before passengers were transferred to buses.
Flights remain largely unaffected, although New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido temporarily closed its runways overnight after the quake, with around 200 passengers stranded as crews inspected facilities. Part of a domestic terminal remains closed due to ceiling damage and repairs, so travellers may still see minor delays or gate changes on some domestic flights.
Will a megaquake strike Japan?
Scientists say an earthquake of the size seen on Monday typically produces aftershocks for days or weeks, gradually decreasing in frequency and strength. Already, seismographs have recorded multiple follow-up tremors in the magnitude-5 range and one of magnitude 6.6 off the same stretch of coast.
What has made headlines is the JMA’s Hokkaido-Sanriku Offshore Subsequent Earthquake Advisory – a type of megaquake alert that has only been used once before since the system was overhauled after the 2011 disaster.
It warns of a slightly increased risk – around one per cent of an even larger magnitude 8 or higher event in the coming week somewhere along the Pacific coast from Chiba to Hokkaido, and remains in effect until at least 16 December. That sounds alarming, but Japanese authorities are stressing that it is still a low probability and that the advisory is intended to encourage people towards practical preparedness rather than to cause panic or prompt mass trip cancellations.
What is a megaquake?
Japanese officials use the term ‘megaquake’ to describe a massive subduction-zone earthquake of at least magnitude 8, and potentially close to magnitude 9, generated where one tectonic plate is forced beneath another along deep ocean trenches such as the Nankai Trough or the Japan Trench. These ‘megathrust’ events are capable of triggering towering tsunamis, widespread ground shaking and economic losses running into the hundreds of billions of dollars.
The advisory issued after Monday night’s quake does not mean such an event is imminent, nor that scientists can predict its timing. Instead, it reflects a temporary rise in risk: JMA says the probability of a magnitude-8-class quake along parts of the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Chiba has risen from close to zero to around 1 per cent over the next week, based on past cases where very large tremors followed a magnitude-7 shock in the same offshore zone.
Where could a megaquake hit in Japan?
The scenario that most worries Japanese planners is a ‘megaquake' along the Nankai Trough, a 900km-long undersea trench stretching off the Pacific coast from central Honshu past Shikoku to Kyushu. Government simulations suggest a magnitude-9-class event there could kill up to 300,000 people and cause as much as $1.8 trillion in damage, with tsunamis inundating wide areas of the Tokai, Kansai and Shikoku coasts and severe shaking in cities such as Osaka and Nagoya.
Another long-term concern is the Japan Trench off Tohoku, north-east Honshu, where the 2011 magnitude-9.0 quake struck. A government panel has previously estimated a 90 per cent probability that a magnitude-7-class undersea earthquake will occur off Miyagi Prefecture within 30 years.
This article was first published on Condé Nast Traveller Middle East.