I've thought about the same thing myself and it's a compelling theory. However, even if true, an "imminent" earthquake in North America in geologic time could still be many, many years away. The thought of something similar happening along the Cascadia subduction zone is frightening, to say the least. Of course, those of us in California have our own friendly neighborhood faults to fret over, too.

I saw one mention of a geologist a week ago who said that as the stress was relieved on the fault along northereastern Japan, it then transferred that stress onto a segment of the fault near Tokyo that is still locked in place. There's no way to predict when or if that stress may lead to another massive quake much closer to Tokyo.