earthquakes do not follow predictions. A conclusion that has long been reached by other countries and only now accepted by Japan. The country's earthquake-prediction programme, the last in the world, with an annual budget of us $145 million is about to close down. A report accepted by the ministry of education's Geodesy Council finally admits that their programme is a complete failure. The Council is now asking the government to divert the resources into constructing safer buildings. With the Japanese capital sitting over the junction of the Earth's three tectonic plates, it was hoped that the earthquake-prediction programme will detect any abnormal precursor phenomena