Paper short abstract:

The Japanese archipelago was crucial for institutionalizing seismology in the 1880s. This kept giving Japanese seismologists a unique authority within the international scientific community to pursue active roles in science diplomacy and to maintain transnational relationships based on seismicity.

Paper long abstract:

Located on the Pacific Rim, the Japanese archipelago is known as a place subjected to frequent and strong earthquakes. It became one of the first regions monitored by modern seismographs in the late 19th century. Their experience with their seismic archipelago gave Japanese seismologists a unique authority within the international seismological community. This enabled them to foster transnational relations shaped by the seismicity of places and shared interests in earthquake preparedness throughout the 20th century.

The encounter of British mining oyatoi John Milne with the Japanese seismic environment in the 1880s became crucial for institutionalizing seismology as a scientific discipline. Milne developed one of the first modern seismographs, and strived toward the creation of monitoring networks in Japan and around the globe. His Japanese successors, especially Omori Fusakichi, exerted considerable influence through knowledge transfers with other seismic regions in both colonial and inter-imperial context. The development of strong motion seismology in the 1930s, earthquake engineering, and international collaboration for earthquake prediction from the 1960s onwards further cemented Japan's influential status in earthquake science.

The aim of this paper is to expand upon Gregory Clancey's notion of Japan as an "Earthquake Nation" and examine the transnational relations of Japanese seismology under the framework of Science Diplomacy, which has been a rapidly expanding field in the History of Science in the past few years. Japan capitalized on the seismicity of its archipelago and actively used seismology to present itself as a progressive scientific nation inside and outside of diplomatic contexts. At the same time, the study of transnational networks of Japanese seismologists reveals that they connected seismic regions directly, thus contributing a layer of networks shaped by seismicity to science diplomacy.