Japan's coastline would be narrower than before since large area has been sinking below the sea in northeast of Japan triggered by the great earthquake and tsunami, according to loca newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

According to the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan, the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March 11 caused large area of land to become submerged?in the northeast of Japan from north to south. Although the government could drain the water from the land, it's still unknown if they can recover the area again.

Dr. Daniel McNamara, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said that the disaster shifted Japan's coast by eight feet in some parts, according to The Huffington Post. He also said the quake actually sank the elevation of the country's terrain is more troublesome than coastal shifting.

"You see cities still underwater; the reason is subsidence," he said. "The land actually dropped, so when the tsunami came in, it's just staying."

Japan ocean seabed shifts 24 meters

The ocean floor has moved 24 meters in the wake of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan. The Japanese Coastguard has reported that part of the Pacific Ocean seabed closest to the epicenter, 24 kilometers below the continental shelf and 130 kilometers east of the Port of Sendai, has shifted 24 meters to the southeast.

Nitrogen injected into nuke reactor to prevent explosion

At the same time, Tokyo Electric Power Co. began pumping nitrogen gas into a stricken reactor at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Thursday to prevent the risk of a hydrogen explosion.

Workers injected nitrogen gas into the containment vessel of the plant's No. 1 reactor in process that could take several days, according to the embattled utility firm.