Ever since I landed here in Japan I’ve have been feeling the ground is moving when I lying down or sitting.
It feels like having mini earthquakes or you standing in bus/train while hold onto nothing or vibration you feel when you in a idle car.
I put glass of water on floor to make sure if it’s real. Water didn’t even waver.
Sometimes I can’t even sleep thinking what if it’s real and I might buried in my apartment. I’m scared.
Have you ever felt this or this is just me?
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I never tried the water glass test, but my first apartment, I frequently felt them when I was lying in bed. Perhaps the building was poorly constructed because my current place I don’t feel them and I can hardly hear my neighbors as well (unlike my first place). Both are on the 2nd floor. Maybe they weren’t even earthquakes but just other residents moving around?
You may have a strong heartbeat. I sometimes spook myself when sitting down right after running up a flight of stairs or other exercise. Buses and trucks will also shake things up. I noticed this all way more when I first moved here and had never experienced earthquakes before. Though even now I notice the slightest trembles which the rest of my family sleep through completely 🤷🏼♂️
Yeah I’ve had this feeling, actually. I think it’s anxiety related. I moved to a high building a couple of years ago and there was an (actual) big quake and after that a few times my brain kind of told me the ground was moving when it wasn’t. It’s like a form of vertigo but I’m pretty sure it’s totally psychological. Like when I was lying down and it felt like the bed moved.
High blood pressure?
Mal de débarquement syndrome. It’s temporary. Happens to some people after longer stretches of constant motion like travel by boat or train.
Are you sure there isn’t a highway or (more likely) a train running underneath you? Vibrations are a funny thing.
There are actually a lot of real mini quakes all the times, not just larger ones. The mini are too weak to be reported in the news but they exist. If your house lays on soft land and is a light structure then you may feel it sometimes. Also, vibrations from heavy traffic etc..
How long have you been here? I definitely had some weird phantom quake stuff going on when I was new here (also living in Ibaraki didn’t help as sometimes there could be 3 legit quakes a day, lol) but it wore off after a while (I certainly wasn’t losing sleep over it either). The only advice I can think of is to try not to think about it, Japan has quakes, can’t change that, just do a little bit of preparation for peace of mind.
What sometimes happens now though is…
When I’m extremely extremely next level tired, I do get these phantom quakes where stuff kinda seems to go sideways except it’s just my mind going sideways and I just make jokes about it that my brain is quaking.
Also sometimes if I’m in a super tall building and it’s windy, that can also cause small vibrations which make it feel like a small quake is going on except it’s just the building and the wind.
It’s all the Kaiju stomping around
Trucks.
That’s called withdrawal. You need to work on tapering.
I feel this sometimes too, but then just realize it’s my heartbeat and blood flowing, you can feel it more clearly when you’re laying still
In apartment 1: Trucks would drive by and shake the apartment
Apartment 2: Was due to anxiety
Apartment 3: Was a mixture of both
Infrasound? Some machinery vibrates in a range we can feel but not hear
Phantom quakes are a thing, but everyone I’ve ever met who had em had blood pressure/weight issues (Just like myself).
If it’s not an obvious body related issue, you might ought to see a shrink about your anxiousness and fears.
Do you think there is any chance that it is a train passing underground nearby? I stayed in Shibuya for six months and it took me two months before I stopped. Thinking there was a small earthquake every 10 minutes.
Oh yeah, I get this every now and then, especially when anxious. I lived there when the 2011 earthquake happened, and even years after I had a hard time knowing when it was a small earthquake or just me. When I moved back to my home country for a while, I still felt them, and there’s never been an earthquake that you can feel (or at all, idk) where I’m from. Honestly, I’ve never heard anyone else mention this, so I’m glad I’m not alone in this.
It’s happened to me a few times (and I’ve done the check with a liquid thing, too).
I attribute it to a combination of the precise position in which I’m lying or sitting and my heartbeat. Now I expect it once in a while and dismiss it when it happens. If someone’s around I’ll ask if they’d felt an earthquake. The answer’s always ‘no’.
As for being buried in your apartment, the chances are low even in substantial earthquakes unless your building is older than, say, 30 years old.
I lived in a tall thin apartment building that, because of earthquakes, was designed to move quite a bit. Passing trucks would make the apartment noticeably sway.
Hitori jishin?
Jokes aside, if you flew a long flight recently is normal.
Hp, diabetes?
Same thing when I visited. Eventually I figured out it was mostly trucks driving by since the houses are really close to the street. Where j was staying was on what passes for medium road in Japan and the floor would almost continuously vibrate subtly. It drove me nuts and I was also thinking it was constant earthquakes to the point I’d check the JMA site for info. After a few days I realized it was the trucks and it didn’t bother me much after that
I feel like these vibrations are caused by my neighbors rumbling around. Perhaps its due to the way they build apartment buildings here.
Anxiety.
I started feeling this after big earthquake 2 years ago. Now it’s finally gone. But I’ve been drinking some pills since covid from stress. Can’t sleep without it.
I get the feeling after I fly or take a boat. Alternatively, anxiety also has me feeling phantom earthquakes. I use the JMA site to check and that always relieves my fear, so maybe check it out to assure yourself?
I’ve had this since I landed here more or less.
(No trains or trucks where I lived, but it’s possible the building was swaying in the wind, since I only felt it in my room and not in class)
When a real earthquake hit I felt the difference. It is very noticeable.
Unless things are rattling or falling in your apartment, don’t worry about it. Even if it is a real small earthquake, if it only rumbles a little you’ll be fine (several 3 ones, my dishes didn’t even shift). Won’t do anything to you or your house. Promise.
A real big one will wake you up without a doubt, and a small 1 is pretty harmless.
So now I just ignore it cuz I know it’s just me.
You might have felt something before and are now imagining it.
I think you should just remember that small earthquakes in Japan are considered normal and there’s nothing you need to be scared of.
If your house is swaying side to side by like a meter then yeah, be scared, but otherwise it’s just business as usual.
I have this too, but when I’m sitting up with my back to the sofa. It’s not constant, but occasional. I suspect it’s a bounding pulse caused by undiagnosed cardiovascular issues. Feels like an earthquake, but only in my body. Started a few months after moving here. Lots of sodium in everything and I do already take meds for high blood pressure. I think it also can happen to people experiencing dramatic blood sugar fluctuations.
I get the exact same thing. It feels like a small earthquake. I’ve found out like some others mentioned that a lot of times its actually my heartbeat sort of pushing my chest and simulating the feeling of moving ground if im leaning on something or lying on my back.
Dehydration. I had them the first time I came to japan, so stock up on lots of water and energy drinks like pocari swear
This is sensory hallucinations, similar to phantom vibrations of cellphones. It will go away in time
I get it if I cross my legs sometimes, it’s just my pulse.
Well, yesterday morning it was a small quake, but usually it’s just my pulse.
Also perhaps some minor vertigo? My vertigo flares up whenever I get a sinus infection. It’s fucking terrible.
Back closer to 3/11 when there were small to medium tremors all the time I would feel like this sometimes. If my seat wiggled in a way that my mind wouldn’t predict I would feel like it was an earthquake for a sec. Maybe try hanging some lights or have some plants in plain view so you can quickly look and confirm nothing is shaking
I know exactly what you mean, but the weird thing is it was happening to me when I went back home to visit my home country.
I think because there was no more actual light shaking my brain wanted to make it up??
i had this from jet-lag! lots
of dizziness and feeling like the ground is moving… it went away after about a week 🙂 if you just arrived it could be the same thing!
I live in an area that rarely has earthquakes. We had a fairly big one a few months back and for a month I would feel phantom quakes. It was all due to anxiety and my body/mind being hyper aware of everything. It went away.
I felt this too, I’m glad it’s not just me
I had some anxiety issues from this kind of thing in the past. I was living in a very tall but thin building, next to two highways. Each earthquake felt like the building was going to topple over. Big trucks driving by would cause constant shaking.
I moved somewhere else and it was much better. But even in new places big trucks driving by on a relatively big street two blocks down do cause some shaking (or, like, construction).
So I bet that you’re feeling the city movement more than anything, and it might be building dependent. But I feel you, it’s stressful
I had vertigo when I arrived in Japan as well actually. It does go away after a while.
Man, I thought I was the only one, and trippin. I told everyone a ghost was shaking my bed, but no, no one else felt it, not even the top bunk roommate.
I feel this sometimes when I lay down in my bed but then it turns out its my dog scratching himself like an asshole
Being serious, I felt it a lot at first too after my first big quake. It’ll go away.
Just remember, every building in Japan is meant to withstand a truly massive earthquake. You are safe.
Do you live near a railway line, subway line, or busy road?
If you’re high up in a tall building, they can sometimes sway a bit.
How long have you been here, and have you experienced an actual earthquake yet?
You can check the JMA website, and get the Yurekuru app, for earthquake news. There’s usually one or more each day.
A 1 is a light fart. Or might just be a heavy truck.
A 2 in your area should feel like mild jiggling.
A 3 is definitely noticeable, hold onto your teacup. Raise one eyebrow in mild consternation if desired.
A 4 means put your helmet on, get under the table, and fill the bath.
A 5 means watch out for the photocopier. It’s ok to scream like a girl. Don’t smoke.
A 6 means hold on and hope it eventually stops.
7: Exterminatus Extremis.
You should probably familiarise yourself with where your evacuation center is, tsunami information, where at risk of flooding/landslide areas are, and where to get water from.
It’s most likely just your heartbeat/blood pressure. Happens to me sometimes when I’m laying down. I think an earthquake is happening, but then I realize it’s just me existing lol
About four or five times a month if I happened to be awake around midnight to two or so I feel a very deep, very slight and low rumble that lasts for about 20
Seconds. It feels like a drill is making a tunnel, a long long way away. A friend who lives nearby has also experienced it. Probably just North Korea making a tunnel
Under Japan.
I also get a lot of sudden motion sensations on this island. Went to the states for a month, and nothing. Odd land we live on, I guess.
If you’re still having that problem when you get signed up for health insurance go to a doctor and tell them what you’re experiencing.
As mentioned from others, the alarm on your phone is the worst and will just magnify your panic in case of an 4 or above earthquake.
My strong recommendation is to check your phone settings for emergency notifications and check that your phone is not blasting on full volume even if you have it in silent mode.
When this happened at 3.00 in the night, it’s 1000 times worse than the earthquake itself. When it happened I felt almost paralyzed in my bed.
I have the emergency notifications now on Vibration and sound on mute. Usually the vibration is enough to wake me up in time.
Fun fact: Japan is ALWAYS experiencing earthquake vibrations. In most of your daily life, it’s not even noticeable, but yes, if you lay down or actively try to sense it, you’ll pick up on it… especially North of Tokyo.
When I lived in Fukushima in 2011, I remember going into the superstore (PLANT-4, like a Japanese Walmart) and hearing the metal hanger-like ceiling rumbling as I shopped.