Significant magnitude 5.1 quake hits 23 km northeast of Tateyama, Japan

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake near Tateyama, Tateyama Shi, Chiba, Japan, was reported only 20 minutes ago by the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth of 10. km beneath the epicenter in the morning on Thursday, January 29th, 2026, at 10:25 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report, according to VolcanoDiscovery.

A second report was later issued by the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake, which listed it as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake as well. A third agency, Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), reported the same quake at magnitude 4.0.

Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake was probably felt by many people in the area of the epicenter. It should not have caused significant damage, other than objects falling from shelves, broken windows, etc.

Tateyama (pop. 50,100) located 23 km from the epicenter, Futtsu (pop. 51,700) 38 km away, Kimitsu (pop. 83,100) 38 km away, Kisarazu (pop. 136,200) 39 km away, and Sodegaura (pop. 64,900) 40 km away, the quake should have been felt as light shaking.

Weak shaking might have been felt in Mobara (pop. 88,300) located 44 km from the epicenter, Yokosuka (pop. 409,500) 47 km away, Yokohama (pop. 3,777,500) 58 km away, Chiba (pop. 979,800) 60 km away, and Tokyo (pop. 9,733,300) 79 km away.

VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.