A ranar 11 ga Maris, 2011 da ƙarfe 2:46 na rana, an yi girgizar ƙasa mafi ƙarfi a tarihin ƙasar Japan
, ya shafi wurare a yankuna uku na Tohoku, Chubu da Kanto a arewa maso gabashin Honshu, gami da yankin Tokyo. Girgizar kasa ta girgizar kasa mai karfin 9.0 ta kusanci da mummunan girgizar kasa da tsunami na Tekun Indiya a watan Disamba na 2004 a Kudancin da Kudu maso gabashin Asiya, da kuma mummunan girgizar kasa ta Haiti a watan Janairun 2010 da kuma mummunan girgizar kasa ta Christchurch na New Zealand a watan Fabrairun 2011. Tsunami tare da raƙuman ruwa har zuwa mita 10 (32.5 feet) ya mamaye yankunan da ke cikin kilomita da yawa daga bakin teku, yana haifar da manyan gobara. Cibiyar girgizar tana kusa da ƙauyuka da garuruwa na bakin teku da dubbai ba za su iya guduwa a kan lokaci ba, duk da tsarin gargaɗin tsunami. A Cibiyar Harkokin Nukiliya ta Fukushima Daiichi da wasu cibiyoyin nukiliya guda uku, matsaloli masu tsanani sun faru tare da tsarin sanyaya, wanda ya haifar da mummunar mummunar gurɓataccen rediyo tun bayan bala'in Chernobyl (duba bala'in nukiliya na Fukushima Daiichi), da kuma rashin wutar lantarki. Bayan girgizar kasa, a karon farko, Sarkin ya yi jawabi ga al'umma a cikin wani shiri na talabijin da aka riga aka yi rikodin.