1. Introduction

"National Seismic Hazard Maps for Japan (2005)"prepared by the Earthquake Research Committee of the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, was published on March 23, 2005. The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention has been developing the basic technology required to prepare a seismic hazard map since April, 2001, when it began a special project called "National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project of Japan".
This guidebook, which is divided into three chapters, is designed to make the basic contents and characteristics of the map clear.
Chapter 2 explains earthquake and seismic ground motion, types of earthquakes, and the characteristics of two types of seismic hazard maps.
Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 describe two types of seismic hazard maps.
* Types of maps and related information
* The interpretation of the map
* Methods of the map
* Utilization of the map
* Future tasks