That ' s a valid concern , it ' s been a bit crazy recently . I hope you have a good balance or you might spend most of your time crawling on the floor or holding onto the wall it ' s hard to stand upright with all those earthquakes . However , you should be fine if you follow a few simple guidelines Stay in west Tokyo , it ' s higher ground , further from the sea and tsunamis usually don ' t reach that far . Avoid any hot drink as you ' ll most likely spill it on yourself and get burnt . Starbucks and most other chains stopped selling hot coffee for this reason , but some small independent coffee shops keep selling hot coffee , against government recommendations . I recommend starting drinking early in the day , it helps ease the anxiety about earthquakes . Luckily , alcohol in Japan is cheap and many flavors are sold at convenience stores . It ' s allowed and even encouraged to drink in the street . Just in case , wear a hard hat and a life jacket at all times , including for sleeping . I only remove them for showering but put them back as soon as my hair is dry . Pack some iodine capsule , it ' ll help handle the radioactivity constantly trickling from Fukushima . You might start to lose your hair until your body gets used to the radioactivity , but convenience stores are selling emergency toupets that come in a variety of shapes and sizes ! They offer 25 % discount if your show your foreign passport , that ' s part of a government plan to help tourism . One last insider tip stay away from high buildings , as people might fall in case of earhquake . Even if they don ' t fall directly on you , the blood splashing can be inconvenient . My favorite shoes still have blood stains from some asshole who fell 2 meters from me on Monday , and I can ' t get them clean . Use the underpasses as those are much safer . If you follow those , your chances of survival will be way above 50 %!