The ENTIRE History of Japan's Disasters: 1,300 Years in 12 Minutes

Japan has written records of disasters going back more than 1,300 years — earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, volcanoes and typhoons. Here is the entire story in time order, and what each disaster taught the country. Why Japan sits on four colliding plates, then every great disaster in order: the 684 Hakuhō earthquake (Nihon Shoki), the 869 Jōgan tsunami, the Kamakura Buddha's lost hall (1498, per the temple), the Great Fire of Meireki (1657), the 1707 Hōei earthquake and Mount Fuji's last eruption, Asama 1783, the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake and the catfish prints, the 1891 Nōbi earthquake, the 1896 Meiji Sanriku tsunami, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and fires (and the killings of Koreans), the 1933 tsunami stones, the 1959 Isewan Typhoon, Kobe 1995, the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and Fukushima, Noto 2024 — and the Nankai Trough risk today. Nearly 9 in 10 victims of the 1923 Kantō earthquake died in the fires, not the shaking — and a warning stone carved after the 1933 tsunami kept a whole hamlet safe in 2011. ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 1,300 years 00:40 Stick, bend, snap 01:12 111 volcanoes 01:48 It comes back 02:20 A warning ignored 02:47 1657: Edo burns 03:20 1707: double blow 03:50 1783: Asama 04:31 The giant catfish 05:00 1891: the fault 05:32 A gentle shake 06:04 1923: The City of Fire 06:33 The fire whirl 07:10 Lessons Carved in Stone 07:36 1959: Isewan 08:07 Kobe, 5:46 a.m. 08:39 Year of volunteers 09:09 1,400× Kobe 09:38 Up to 40 meters 10:05 Fukushima 10:36 2024: The Coast That Rose 11:06 The Next One 11:39 Prepared, not safe 📚 SOURCES • Cabinet Office of Japan (bousai.go.jp) — Reports on lessons of past disasters: 1657 Meireki fire, 1783 Asama, 1855 Ansei Edo, 1923 Kantō, 1959 Isewan Typhoon • Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion (jishin.go.jp) — Nankai Trough long-term evaluation (Sept 2025); Nōbi 1891; Meiji/Shōwa Sanriku • Japan Meteorological Agency — active volcanoes (111); typhoon normals 1991–2020 • USGS — M9.1 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake event page • Sugawara D. et al. (2012) The 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake tsunami: similarities and differences to the 869 Jogan tsunami. Sedimentary Geology 282 • Furumura T. et al. (2011) Revised tsunami source model for the 1707 Hoei earthquake. JGR 116, B02308 • 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami Joint Survey Group (2011) JSCE B2 67(1) • Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program — Fujisan ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎬 ABOUT THIS CHANNEL History's Door opens one great story of the past at a time — empires, turning points and the people behind them, told with archival images, maps and sources. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@historydoor_... ⚠️ NOTE Based on Japanese government sources (Cabinet Office disaster reports, JMA, HERP/Earthquake Research Committee, National Police Agency, Reconstruction Agency), USGS, and peer-reviewed papers (Sugawara et al. 2012; Furumura et al. 2011; Mori et al. 2011). Death tolls for historical disasters are estimates and differ between sources; ranges are given where they disagree. Hokusai's Great Wave is a landscape print, not a tsunami image. Satellite images: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA) and NASA. 3D maps are simplified illustrations. © History’s Door — original script, research and edit. #Japan #JapanHistory #Earthquake