--- title: Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Meltdown: 4 Years Later description: On Mar. 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan canonical: https://time.com/3726563/japan-earthquake-anniversary/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-11T11:00:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:47:46.793Z article:section: History og:title: Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Meltdown: 4 Years Later og:description: On Mar. 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan og:url: https://time.com/3726563/japan-earthquake-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f07429368220f34/69878172a988ca41126acb84/1101110328_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 1101110328_400 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Meltdown: 4 Years Later twitter:description: On Mar. 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f07429368220f34/69878172a988ca41126acb84/1101110328_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Reflections on the Earthquake in Japan, 4 Years Later  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 11, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  The Mar. 28, 2011, cover of TIME The Mar. 28, 2011, cover of TIMECover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY ALY SONG / REUTERS  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 11, 2015 11:00 AM UTC It has now been four years to the day since an earthquake and tsunami upended Japan. These days, the country continues to rebound from the devastating natural disaster that struck on Mar. 11, 2011, with [cleanup](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/radioactive-fukushima-water-leak-was-unreported-months-official-n312396) — nuclear and otherwise — and [reflection ](http://www.dw.de/former-japanese-pm-naoto-kan-fukushima-radically-changed-my-perspective/a-18275921)ongoing. In the days and weeks immediately following the earthquake, those questions were all the more urgent. TIME devoted a special report to the aftermath of the disaster, taking a look at Japan’s nuclear power industry as well as its national character. The insights drawn from those investigations are still worth heeding, even today. As TIME’s Nancy Gibbs wrote in the aftermath of the quake: --- > “” --- **_Read the full special report, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Japan’s Meltdown](http://time.com/vault/issue/2011-03-28/page/1/) Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Meltdown: 4 Years Later ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3726563/japan-earthquake-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3726563/japan-earthquake-anniversary/"},"headline":"Reflections on the Earthquake in Japan, 4 Years Later","datePublished":"2015-03-11T11:00:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:47:46.793Z","description":"On Mar. 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan","url":"https://time.com/3726563/japan-earthquake-anniversary/","keywords":["natural disaster","Japan","Earthquake"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f07429368220f34/69878172a988ca41126acb84/1101110328_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f07429368220f34/69878172a988ca41126acb84/1101110328_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1101110328_400","caption":"Japan Earthquake cover","creditText":"Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH BY ALY SONG / REUTERS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/natural-disaster/","name":"natural disaster"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3726563/japan-earthquake-anniversary/","name":"Reflections on the Earthquake in Japan, 4 Years Later"}}]}] ```