Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction – dangerous neighbors: volcanoes near cities
- 1 Too many people and too many volcanoes – Naples, Italy
- 2 A full menu of volcanic hazards – Mexico City
- 3 “Like dangerous, yet undeniably beautiful women” – Guagua Pichincha and Cotopaxi volcanoes near Quito, Ecuador
- 4 Dangerous neighbors, but some bring gifts – Manila megacity, Philippines
- 5 “It’s part of the culture. Live with it!” – cities in Japan
- 6 Volcanic and proud of it – Auckland, New Zealand
- 7 Coffee, software, aircraft, and volcanic mudflows – Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland, USA
- 8 A tale of two cities – Akrotiri (island of Santorini, Greece) and Plymouth (island of Montserrat, Caribbean)
- 9 The dangerous neighbor is restless – how should a city respond?
- Recommendations for further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Index
5 - “It’s part of the culture. Live with it!” – cities in Japan
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction – dangerous neighbors: volcanoes near cities
- 1 Too many people and too many volcanoes – Naples, Italy
- 2 A full menu of volcanic hazards – Mexico City
- 3 “Like dangerous, yet undeniably beautiful women” – Guagua Pichincha and Cotopaxi volcanoes near Quito, Ecuador
- 4 Dangerous neighbors, but some bring gifts – Manila megacity, Philippines
- 5 “It’s part of the culture. Live with it!” – cities in Japan
- 6 Volcanic and proud of it – Auckland, New Zealand
- 7 Coffee, software, aircraft, and volcanic mudflows – Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland, USA
- 8 A tale of two cities – Akrotiri (island of Santorini, Greece) and Plymouth (island of Montserrat, Caribbean)
- 9 The dangerous neighbor is restless – how should a city respond?
- Recommendations for further reading
- Acknowledgements
- Index
Summary
Living as they do with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons, the Japanese people have had to accept the risks of natural hazards. Today, 13 cities with populations of over 100,000 are located next door to dormant or active volcanoes. Japan itself is a country made up of chains of volcanoes, and 116 of them have been active within the last 10,000 years, including some submarine volcanoes – that’s young to a geologist. Japan’s famously beautiful mountainous terrain, the product of the processes that generate earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, has been the inspiration for art, literature, and mythology throughout the country’s history.
The cities chosen for this chapter are Shimabara City and Kagoshima City in Kyushu, Tokyo in Honshu, and the towns around Lake Toya, near Usu volcano, Hokkaido. There are considerable differences in their settings. Lake Toya is in heavily forested cold terrain with heavy winter snow; Tokyo is temperate; and both Shimabara City and Kagoshima City are sub-tropical with heavy rainfall. They have in common their volcanic heritage and the continuing hazards from eruptions.
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- Dangerous Neighbors: Volcanoes and Cities , pp. 89 - 112Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013