Changing rates of the baseline lengths since 1984 in global very long baseline inter ferometry (VLBI) networks are distilled into the horizontal velocity of six Japanese, Pacific and European VLBI stations. Four North American stations are fixed as the reference. Obtained velocity vectors of the Pacific and European stations indicate that the Pacific and Eurasian plates have moved without noticeable internal deformation. The Japanese (Kashima) station, however, shows the velocity of about 3

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... ear toward WNW. This is inconsistent with available plate boundary models in and around Japan and suggests substantial intra-plate deformation, i.e. crustal shortening under the compressional stress field caused by the subducting Pacific , plate. 1.