Meteorological organizations in Japan have their origins in the 1870s, when the first weather stations started being established in the country.[1] One of these was the Tokyo Meteorological Observatory (東京気象台, Tōkyō Kishō-dai), which since 1956 has been known as the Japan Meteorological Agency (気象庁, Kishō-chō). It was originally formed within the Survey Division of the Geography Bureau of the Home Ministry (内務省地理寮量地課, Naimu-shō Chiri-ryō Ryōchi-ka).[1][4] However, jurisdiction over the agency has changed several times over the years, and since the Japanese government reformation in 2001, it has been an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通省, Kokudo-kōtsū-shō). Its headquarters have also changed several times, and as of November 24, 2020, they are now located in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo.[5]
August 26, 1872 – The first weather station in Japan was set up in Hakodate, Hokkaido. It is the precursor of the present Hakodate Weather Station (函館海洋気象台, Hakodate Kaiyō Kishō-dai).[1]
June 1875 – The original Tokyo Meteorological Observatory (東京気象台, Tōkyō Kishō-dai) was formed within the Survey Division of the Geography Bureau of the Home Ministry (内務省地理寮量地課, Naimu-shō Chiri-ryō Ryōchi-ka).[1][4]
January 1, 1887 – The Tokyo Meteorological Observatory was renamed as the Central Meteorological Observatory (中央気象台, Chūō Kishō-dai), with the transfer of its jurisdiction to the Home Ministry.
April 1895 – The Ministry of Education (文部省, Monbushō) replaced the preceding ministry as an administrator of the Observatory.
January 1, 1923 – The main office was moved to Motoe-machi, Kōjimachi-ku (later Takehira-chō 1). it is located near a moat surrounding the Imperial Palace.[6]
November 1943 – The Ministry of Transport and Communications (運輸通信省, Un'yu Tūshin-shō) took over Central Meteorological Observatory operation.
May 1945 – JMA became part of the Ministry of Transport (運輸省, Un'yu-shō).
July 1, 1956 – The Central Meteorological Observatory became an agency of the Ministry of Transport, and has been renamed to the Japan Meteorological Agency (気象庁, Kishō-chō).
March 1964 – The headquarters office was relocated to Ōtemachi, Chiyoda-ku.
The agency has six regional administrative offices (including five DMOs and Okinawa Meteorological Observatory), four Marine Observatories, five auxiliary facilities, four Aviation Weather Service Centers and 47 local offices composed of the LMOs. These are also used to gather data, supplemented by weather satellites such as Himawari, and other research institutes.[7]
In 1968, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) designated the JMA as a Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Asia.[8] In June 1988, the WMO also assigned the JMA as a RSMC for the Northwestern Pacific under its Tropical Cyclone programme.[8] In July 1989, the RSMC Tokyo – Typhoon Center was established within the headquarters office, which dealt with the forecasting and dissemination of active tropical cyclones, as well as preparing a summary of each year's cyclone activity.[9]
Observation and forecast
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Weather
Land weather
Each DMO and LMO issues weather forecasts and warnings or advisories to the general public live in its own area. Weather data used to these forecasts are acquired from the Surface Observation (represented by the AMeDAS), the Radar Observation, the Observation and the Satellite Observation mainly using the Himawari series of satellites.
In the Northwestern Pacific area, the typhoon season ordinarily comes almost from May to November. The JMA forecasts and warns or advises on tropical cyclones to the public in Japan and its surrounding countries as the RSMC Tokyo – Typhoon Center.[10]
The JMA has 624 observation stations across Japan[11] which are set up at intervals of 20 km approximately[12] in order to measure the seismic intensity of earthquakes precisely. The agency also utilizes about 2,900 seismographs[11] owned by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) and local governments. A 24-hour office is housed within the JMA headquarters in Tokyo for monitoring and tracking seismic events in the vicinity of Japan to collect and process their data, which distributes observed earthquake information on its hypocenter, magnitude, seismic intensity and possibility of tsunami occurrence after quakes quickly to the public through the Earthquake Phenomena Observation System (EPOS).[13] The Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system began to work fully for the general public on October 1, 2007.
In case of a possibility of tsunami after an earthquake, JMA issues Tsunami Warning or Advisory for each region in Japan with information of estimated tsunami heights and arrival times within 2 to 3 minutes of the quake.
^ abcde総合パンフレット「気象庁」(PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Meteorological Agency. January 2011. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 31, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
^平成23年度 気象庁関係予算決定概要(PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Meteorological Agency. December 24, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
^ ab平成24年度 気象庁関係予算決定概要(PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Meteorological Agency. December 24, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
^ abKan'ichi Koinuma (March 1969). 内務省における気象観測の開始の経緯と気象台の名称(PDF) (in Japanese). Meteorological Society of Japan. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
^ ab"Access to JMA Headquarters". Japan Meteorological Agency. November 24, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020. JMA Headquarters moved on 24 November 2020.
^ ab気象庁庁舎移転後の新しい露場を選定(PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Meteorological Agency. September 2008. Archived from the original(PDF) on May 14, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
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