Seriously, the USGS and the compliant media and their parrots, et al, are quick to dispense with notions the Moon has any affect on Earth as astrology.
And it's true, the Moon was about 247,920 miles (398,988 km) away, during the onset of this seismic event affecting Japan. That's about the mean radius of the lunar orbit.
And, on March 19, just shy of about nine hours after the official moment of the next Full Moon, the Moon will briefly linger at an unusually close perigee of 218,943 miles away (352,354 km). Even so, the Moon is a lot further away than it appears. From limb to limb it's diameter is roughly the distance between New York and Las Vegas, for example. When the next Full Moon occurs, it will appear 16 percent wider than average.
But its hubris to deny the gravitational influence of our unusually large natural satellite, large in comparison with its primary, our home here on Earth, spread over the dry areas of its thin outer shell. The Moon relentlessly tugs at us in a way we can see, in the tides. Those same tidal forces lock the slightly heavier "nearside" of the Moon facing Earth.
The tidal force we see affecting the timing of high and near sea tides lag the Moon's apparent location in the sky by several hours, but there is another factoid most people don't consider.
The length of the radii of our Moon's orbit is measured from within a few kilometers of the Moon's center and the barycenter of the center of gravity of the Earth-Moon system, which is not the center of the Earth. The Earth revolves around that same point in the same time it takes the Moon to orbit once every 27.3 days. It's about one third the distance from the Earth's surface to its center, always within Earth but a long way away from its center, and not exactly synchronous with Earth's daily rotation.
The Moon has been slowly distancing itself from Earth, unwinding its angular momentum, a few centimeters further away each century, for a very long time so it's likely to have had an even stronger tidal affect on the Earth in the past than at present, and its possible the Earth's singularly active tectonics and strong magnetic field (for which I thank God) because of the proximity of our relatively large natural satellite.
Earth is almost entirely liquid, of fluid (perhaps even super fluid at its core) so considering all these facts its strange to discount the possibility of the Moon having an effect on the stresses along Earth tectonic lithosphere.
When the Moon is full, it is at opposition, on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, and the next Full Moon occurs near the Equinox, for what its worth (probably not much). We already accept the tidal effects we can see, in calculating this tricky "three body problem," and take these forces into account when getting a vehicle from Earth to the Moon.
While I do discount the, so-called "Super Moon" as spectacular but not of particularly more affect than usual, I can't dismiss, out of hand, the possibility that the Moon may have a profound influence on the Earth's tectonics. It may not be any more predictable than other factors, but it simply has to tug and pull on tectonic plates, and may be the primary cause of Earth's unusually active plate tectonics.
As Barry Farber used to say, "never believe something until it's officially denied."
lol. AMEN!