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A strong earthquake shook central Japan in the early hours of Sunday, shattering shop windows, sending people fleeing into the streets and leaving at least 22 people injured, according to local media cited by the Associated Press. The quake struck at 1:04 a.m. local time, and Japan's Meteorological Agency has warned residents to brace for more strong shaking in the days ahead.
Japan's Meteorological Agency put the magnitude at 5.7, while the US Geological Survey reported it at magnitude 5.5 — a common gap between agencies that measure the same quake with different methods. The epicentre was about 40 kilometres below the surface in western Shizuoka Prefecture, west of Tokyo, and the shaking spread across a wide area around Aichi Prefecture, including the city of Hamamatsu, the ancient capitals of Kyoto and Nara, and Yamanashi Prefecture, where Mount Fuji stands.
What the shaking did
The strongest shaking was recorded in Chita City, Aichi Prefecture, where the intensity reached upper 5 on Japan's seven-point scale — strong enough to knock items off shelves and crack windows. Intensities of lower 5 were recorded across Aichi, Shizuoka, Gifu and Nagano prefectures. In Toyohashi, a broken shop window at a car dealership became one of the day's defining images; in Toyota City, a man in his 40s and a woman in her 80s fell and hit their heads, according to reports from NHK World-Japan.
Fire departments in Aichi Prefecture reported at least 16 people injured, while Shizuoka reported at least four more, including a woman in her 90s who hurt her shoulder after falling from her bed. Some local outlets put the total slightly higher, at 24. No deaths were reported, and no tsunami warning was issued. Train services were disrupted in parts of the region as operators carried out safety checks.
Why officials are warning of more to come
The warning that followed the quake matters as much as the quake itself. Ayataka Ebita, an official of the Japan Meteorological Agency, told reporters that people should be on the lookout for mudslides and falling rocks, and the agency said residents should prepare for possible strong quakes over the coming week — above all in the next two to three days, when aftershocks are most likely.
That advice reflects how Japan's quake science works: a magnitude 5.7 event rarely arrives alone, and the same fault system that slipped on Sunday can produce further jolts before it settles. For a country that has built its entire disaster culture around that pattern — from early-warning alerts to earthquake drills in schools — the message is familiar, but it is never routine for the people woken at 1 a.m. by their windows rattling.
Sunday's quake was not the kind that makes global headlines for its size. Its significance is quieter: a reminder, in one of the world's best-prepared countries, that the ground can still move without warning — and that the hours and days after a quake, when aftershocks are most likely, are when the real vigilance begins. For more on how Japan reads its earthquakes, read our earlier report on Japan's false 9.9 earthquake alert.
Sources: The Hindu (Associated Press) and NHK World-Japan.