It triggered a major tsunami that caused deaths on Hokkaidō and in southeastern Russia, with a total of 230 fatalities recorded.

[3] The northwestern side of Honshu lies on the southeastern margin of the Sea of Japan, an area of oceanic crust created by back-arc spreading associated with the convergent boundary where the Pacific plate is subducted beneath the Okhotsk microplate.

Currently the area is being deformed by contractional tectonics, causing inversion of these earlier basins, forming anticlinal structures.

[dead link‍][3] The quake caused fires to start in the town of Okushiri, adding greatly to the total damage.

A tsunami was widely observed in the Sea of Japan with a run-up of 3.5 m at Akita in northern Honshu, up to 4.0 m in southeastern Russia and up to 2.6 m on the coast of South Korea.