Welcome to Yasunori Sawaki’s homepage!

My name is Yasunori Sawaki (Ph.D., he/him), an assistant professor at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. I am an early-career researcher in seismology (a study of earthquakes and interior strucure of the Earth), who earned a Ph.D. (Science) from Kyoto University (in Japan) in March 2023. My current work is to estimate the detailed geometry of crustal faults and the seismological heterogeneity in crusts and subducting slabs, with the aim of advancing our understanding of seismotectonics.

Download the latest CV (last updated on 03 April 2025)

Our new paper on fault geometries of the 2024 Mw 7.5 Noto Peninsula earthquake was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth!

Major papers:

  • Sawaki, Y., Y. Ito, K. Ohta, T. Shibutani, and T. Iwata (2021). Seismological structures on bimodal distribution of deep tectonic tremor. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2020GL092183. doi: 10.1029/2020GL092183 (Open Access)
  • Sawaki, Y., Y. Yamashita, S. Ohyanagi, E. S. M. Garcia, A. Ito, H. Sugioka, T. Takahashi, M. Shinohara, and Y. Ito (2023). Seafloor depth controls seismograph orientation uncertainty. Geophysical Journal International, 232(2), 1376–1392, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggac397 (Open Access)
  • Sawaki, Y., Y. Ito, E. S. M. Garcia, A. Miyakawa, and T. Shibutani (2024). Deep plutonic bodies over low-frequency earthquakes revealed from receiver-side Green’s functions. Tectonophysics, 892, 230536. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2024.230536 (Open Access)

Upcoming Schedule

Period Place Event
25–30 May 2025 Chiba, JP JpGU2025
27 Jul–01 Aug 2025 Singapore AOGS2025
31 Aug–05 Sep 2025 Lisbon, Portugal IAGA / IASPEI 2025
24–26 Sep 2025 Kochi, JP Workshop on Slow-to-Fast Earthquakes 2025
20–22 Oct 2025 Fukuoka, JP SSJ Fall Meeting 2025

Recent News & Posts

Doctor of Philosophy in Science

Translations: JA

I was awarded “Doctor of Philosophy in Science” by Kyoto University on March 23, 2023. The title of my PhD dissertation is “Heterogeneous seismic structure in onshore and offshore areas of the Nankai subduction zone with receiver-side responses to regional deep-focus and teleseismic earthquakes”.

Slow-to-Fast Earthquake A03 group workshop in Beppu

Title: "Impedance contrast in the Nankai subduction zone"

Translations: JA
A03 group for Slow-to-Fast Earthquake held a workshop in Beppu city in Feb 9–11 2023. I had a talk about the spatial relationship of slow earthquakes and seismic impedance contrasts in the Nankai subduction zone.

Defense of my Doctral Dissertation

"Heterogeneous seismic structure in onshore and offshore areas of the Nankai subduction zone with receiver-side responses to regional deep-focus and teleseismic earthquakes"

Translations: JA
The defense of my PhD thesis was held on Jan. 16, 2023. It was the greatest moment ever in my research life.

Hello World!

Translations: JA
This is the first post. I’m testing the English page.