Tokyo – An earthquake of magnitude 5.2 struck Japan's capital Tokyo and its neighbouring areas on Friday. According to The Japan News, the tremours were felt at around 5:43 am (local time). The quake rocked the Japanese capital after a 4.6-magnitude quake jolted Japan's Chiba prefecture on Thursday. The prefecture is located in the east of Tokyo. 

Meanwhile, the Japan Meteorological Agency said that the Friday quake did not raise a threat of Tsunami in the region. According to the weather agency, four quakes were noticed all across the prefecture on Thursday. these tremors were also felt in many parts of Tokyo. 

Why do Japan have so many earthquakes? 

Japan is no stranger to earthquakes. In fact, it is among the most seismically active countries in the world. With this in mind, it is interesting to note that the Asian nation is also the birthplace of seismology or the study of earthquakes. The country has regularly garnered international headlines for earthquake-related damage, most prominently the March 2011 triple disaster of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. The incident led to the worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl in 1986, according to the reports by The Washington Post. 

One of the major reasons why the country faces frequent earthquakes is the fact that Japan sits on top of four major tectonic plates, making it one of the places in the world most likely to experience tectonic activity. Japan and its surrounding area account for 18 per cent of earthquakes in the world because of active tectonics. According to The Washington Post, the country has about 1,500 earthquakes every year. Not only this, some kind of seismic activity in the region is recorded about once every five minutes. Most of the earthquake activities in the world are fields along the horseshoe-shaped zone — often referred to as the “Ring of Fire” — along the rim of the Pacific Ocean, with more than 400 active volcanoes. This is a geologically active area where earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes are extremely common. According to the US Geological Survey and the International Tsunami Information Center, around 80% of the world’s largest earthquakes and tsunamis occur in this particular region.