There has been intense earthquake activity in the region since around December 2020 and sharp uplifts of land have been confirmed. Takuya Nishimura, an associate professor at Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute, speculated that water rising from a subducting oceanic plate deep under the Japanese archipelago is causing both the land upheavals and the earthquakes. Referring to temblors that occurred from December 2020 to 2021, Nishimura said rising water put pressure on the bedrock, which resulted in the quakes. Although the pace of land uplift has slowed in recent months, Nishimura said water had likely soaked through faults and other cracks in the bedrock, reducing the frictional forces that support the bedrock and causing the earthquakes.