Japan experiences more earthquakes than the east coast of the united states does, because japan is on a tectonic plate boundary. Tectonic plates constantly pushing against each other, in this case it's the pacific plate pushing against the Eurasian plate. Whenever two plates converge, diverge, etc... they create earthquakes.
The first answer is correct. Modern technology didn't make production costs higher. In fact, it made them lower. Technology had mostly positive effects on production.
