Japan has faced many earthquakes and other natural disasters in the country’s existence. It is a very populated country having about 125 million people in Japan, says Nippon. Japan has a very rich history, and has been a country for thousands of years. However, one of the big struggles the country faces is constant earthquakes, and there are many reasons for this.

One of the reasons for earthquakes being so common there is that Japan is on top of several tectonic plates. When they shift, Japan is so close to the plates that it causes frequent earthquakes. Luckily, the earthquakes are usually not big enough to cause any damage to construction, according to Medium.

However, on Apr. 20, 2026 at 11:53 p.m (7:53 a.m in Arizona), an earthquake was abnormally large. The 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered surrounding tsunami warnings on Japan’s coastline. The resulting waves that crashed into Japan were 62 miles long, and as high as 2.5 feet tall, according to ABC News. The main city that got hit by the tsunami was Miyako., .

After the earthquake, Japan’s officials expect another earthquake to come some time next week. They think that the  tsunami that follows the earthquake next week will reach 10 feet high. If it happens, it will most likely occur near the north of Japan’s capital of Tokyo. If it goes exactly as Japan’s officials say, then it will be the biggest tsunami for Japan since the Tohoku Tsunami of 2011, stated by the BBC.

Japan has a history of earthquakes and tsunamis because of tectonic plates underneath the ocean. Hopefully, the earthquakes will be less destructive in the future for Japan.