Two Earthquakes at Yedo (Tokyo), Around 1650 (?) and in 1855

Abstract

Japan is a country of more than 3,000 islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, gives Japan frequent low-intensity tremors and occasional volcanic activity. Destructive earthquakes, often accompanied by tsunamis, occur several times each century. Most of us can still remember two recent major quakes, which struck Japan, namely the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake and the 2004 Chüetsu earthquake.

Tectonically, Japan is located at the western rim of the giant Pacific plate, where three other large plates meet, namely Eurasian, North American, and Philippine; thus, Japan is exposed to the consequences of the subduction processes constantly running there, where the Pacific tectonic plate submerges under the continental Eurasian plate and partly also under the North American plate. These circumstances allow classifying Japanese archipelago as the region where its inhabitants may have an everyday experience with earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.