The ENTIRE History of Japan in 13 Minutes

Japan is not a country that has earthquakes. It’s an earthquake that grew a country. A little stretch but that's true. Japan sits on top of four tectonic plates and takes about one in every five of the world’s biggest earthquakes. It also has the largest city on Earth. So how does a country build on a fault line, burn down, flood, get flattened, and still come back every time? This video covers the whole story, from the first potters to the bullet train that has never lost a passenger. Along the way you’ll meet a giant catfish blamed for shaking the ground, a typhoon that sank an invasion fleet, a lunch that burned down Tokyo, and a stone on a hillside that told people exactly where to stop building. It ends with where things stand right now, because the government is already publishing numbers for an earthquake that hasn’t happened yet. Chapters 0:00 Japan is not a country that has earthquakes 1:52 Before it was even land 3:18 The first novel and the wooden secret 5:00 The divine wind 5:20 Guns, fire, and a closed door 6:30 The catfish 7:30 Japan goes modern 7:56 The lunch that burned Tokyo 8:20 War, rebuilding, and the train 9:52 2011 11:08 Japan right now Sources and further reading: Nankai Trough, megaquake advisory, and worst-case estimates Bloomberg, “Japan Warns Potential Megaquake Could Kill Nearly 300,000” (April 1, 2025): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20... Japan Science and Technology Agency, Cabinet Office estimate summary (298,000 deaths): https://sj.jst.go.jp/stories/2025/s0519-01... Japan Cabinet Office and Japan Meteorological Agency: Nankai Trough damage estimates and the August 2024 megaquake advisory 2011 Tohoku earthquake Space.com, “How the Japan Earthquake Shortened Days on Earth” (NASA JPL and USGS findings, including the roughly 8 feet / 2.4 m shift of Honshu): https://space.com/11115-japan-earthquake-s... USGS and NASA JPL earthquake summaries History and culture Encyclopaedia Britannica entries on Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate, the Meiji Restoration, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and the Mongol invasions of Japan UNESCO World Heritage listing for Horyu-ji Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji Library collections of namazu-e (catfish prints) from the Ansei-era earthquakes JR Central records on the Tokaido Shinkansen and its earthquake detection system Population and births Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare vital statistics National Institute of Population and Social Security Research projections Numbers and dates were current when we recorded. Estimates like earthquake probabilities and population figures change, so check the official sources above for the latest. If you liked this one, hit subscribe. We make a new history deep dive regularly, each built around the one force that shaped a country. Which country should we cover next? Tell us in the comments. #Japan #History #Documentary