The 2012 Chiba earthquake (千葉県東方沖地震, Chiba-ken Tо̄hо̄ Oki Jishin, lit. 'Eastern Chiba Prefecture offshore earthquake') occurred along the northeastern coast of Chiba Prefecture, Japan at 21:05 JST (12:05 UTC) on Wednesday, 14 March 2012. Although its epicentre lay just offshore near Chōshi city, the shallow magnitude 6.1 Mj earthquake produced considerable shaking inland through much of the Bōsō Peninsula and lower Ibaraki Prefecture. It occurred as a result of normal faulting in a seismically quiet region, possibly in response to the magnitude 9.0 Mw 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.