The surveillance and prediction of volcanic activities in Japan

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Japan is very rich in active volcanoes, so that the surveillance and prediction of volcanic activities are indespensable in order to protect human life and properties from catastrophic volcanic eruptions. The author intends here to review the volcanic activities in Japan and the history and status quo of the volcanological observation and research by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), universities, etc. for that purpose. Needless to say, in Japan, volcanoes are studied from various view points such as geophysical, geochemical, geological and geographical. However, the observations for the purpose of detecting of reliable premonitory symptoms of volcanic eruptions are mainly based on geophysical and geochemical methods. In this country, there are permanent observatories at 18 active volcanoes, and there are also several mobile teams of volcanologists. It must be noticed that almost all the volcanic activities including very slight volcanic extraordinary phenomena are nowadays detected in Japan, and unexpected eruptions are very scarce, because the information on the actual state of activities of Japanese volcanoes are made public frequently.