Two years after Fukushima, Japan worries about the next big quake

"There hasn’t been a large-scale earthquake around Tokyo since 1923,” Japanese seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi told Time. "There’s a high probability a violent tremor will strike the region [in the foreseeable future], stronger than the one that hit two years ago. It could be catastrophic."

The city has been preparing with measures such as strict building codes, retrofitting new buildings and early warning systems. Earthquakes may bring about tsunami flooding and the risk of fire or even volcanic activity from the nearby Mount Fuji. Mr Ishibashi is urging the government to "decentralize the megacapital and create a scattered homeland where centers for politics, business, culture and others are separated."