When you feel an earthquake in Aomori in Saitama Prefecture

Last night, December 8th 2025 at 11.15 pm, I was standing at the kitchen sink when the house started to sway. The unmistakable sway of an earthquake. Immediately I ran to the television to catch the live coverage of this latest earthquake. Much to my surprise and horror the epicenter was in Aomori Prefecture. The epicenter off the coast of Aomori Prefecture is approximately (rounded off) 700 kilometers away from us.

Before I saw the live coverage, I was sure the epicenter must have been a lot closer. The last time we felt an earthquake so strongly, with an epicenter far away, was March 11th 2011. The Tohoku earthquake that triggered large tsunami and a nuclear power plant reactor meltdown. Although, officially last night's earthquake only registered as a shindo (seismic intensity) 2 in our part of Saitama Prefecture, it certainly felt a lot stronger than that.

The earthquake did not just literally shake us, it figuratively shook us too. Many people in Japan, myself included, or on high alert. There could be several after shocks. Worse still, there is also the chance that last night's earthquake was a precursor to an even larger earthquake. Stay safe everyone.