Volcanoes in Japan

Japan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which stretches for about 40,000 km around the Pacific Ocean. Here the tectonic plate of the Pacific collides with several surrounding continental plates and seismic tremors occur again and again. Most of the world's volcanic eruptions, which are also the most severe, occur in this zone.

Sakurajima (aira Caldera) volcano eruption in Kyūshū

The Sakurajima (aira Caldera) volcano, which has erupted previously, in the Kyūshū region remains active. Its summit lies at an altitude of 1,117 meters. Escaping lava, ash and gases have a massive impact on the surrounding areas and air traffic. At about 3:10 pm local time on Wednesday, a warning was still in effect up to an altitude of 2,100 meters. Within a radius of only 20 km there are 5 cities with a total of about 730,000 inhabitants. Only about 10 km from the volcano is the city of Kagoshima with 590,000 inhabitants. Previously, ash clouds rose to an altitude of 5,500 meters. However, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) in Tokyo currently assumes a decrease in volcanic activity.

Significant volcanic eruptions in Japan in the last 1300 years

The following list shows all volcanic eruptions of the last 1,300 years with significant damage. The column "VEI" stands for the volcano explosivity index, which represents the strength of the eruption from a geological point of view. This takes into account the height and volume of the rocks ejected. The scale ranges from 0-8, with the severity of the eruption increasing tenfold with each value. For example, a VEI of 1 means that the volcano throws lava and rock masses of 100,000 to 1 million cubic meters up to 1 kilometer high. From VEI 8, a volcano is considered a super volcano. Here, more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of tephra are thrown to altitudes of more than 25 kilometers.

The highest explosivity index in Japan reached in the review period was VEI 5 in 1663. The volcano Usu threw tephramasses of at least 1 cubic kilometer over 25 kilometers high. Such a volcano normally only reaches this intensity every 50 years.

► Interactive map

All volcanoes in Japan

These statistics are based on datas from the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP), and the Significant Volcanic Eruptions Database of the National Geophysical Data Center (NOAA) / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS) doi:10.7289/V5JW8BSH. Several data have been summarized and translated.