Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago of 14,125 islands, of which approximately 400 are inhabited, located on the main seismic line of the globe (Pacific Ring of Fire). With a surface area of ​​377,973 Km², it extends between the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to the north and the East China Sea to the south, mainly mountainous where about a quarter of the Japanese mountains are volcanoes, 111 of which are active. It rests on the Okhotsk Plate, the Eurasian Plate, and the edge of the Philippine Plate, a tectonic situation that has given rise to deep oceanic trenches such as that of Japan originating from the subduction of a convergent fault. Japanese mythology expresses this situation by explaining that the country rests on a gigantic catfish (Namazu), kept under control by the Shintō deity Kashima who tries to prevent the movements of Namazu that cause earthquakes.