Geography of Japan

Geography of Japan
ContinentAsia
RegionEast Asia
Coordinates36°N 138°E / 36°N 138°E / 36; 138
AreaRanked 62nd[1]
 • Total377,973.89[2] km2 (145,936.53 sq mi)
 • Land87.93099%
 • Water12.06901%
Coastline29,751 km (18,486 mi)
BordersNone
Highest pointMount Fuji
3,776 m (12,388 ft)[3]
Lowest pointHachirōgata
−4 m (−13 ft)[3]
Longest riverShinano River
367 km (228 mi)[4]
Largest lakeLake Biwa
671 km2 (259 sq mi)[5]
ClimateVaried; tropical in the south to cool continental in the north, and mountainous areas being Subarctic or Alpine Tundra[3]
TerrainMostly rugged, volcanic, and mountainous[3]
Natural resourcesMarine life and mineral resources in the territorial waters.[6][7] Small deposits of coal, oil, iron, and minerals on land.[3]
Natural hazardsVolcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, and typhoons[3]
Environmental issuesAir pollution; acidification of lakes and reservoirs; overfishing; deforestation[3]
Exclusive economic zone4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 sq mi)

Japan is an archipelagic country comprising a stratovolcanic archipelago over 3,000 km (1,900 mi) along the Pacific coast of East Asia.[8] It consists of 14,125 islands.[9][10] The four main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. The other 14,120 islands are classified as "remote islands" by the Japanese government.[9][11] The Ryukyu Islands and Nanpō Islands are south and east of the main islands.

The territory covers 377,973.89 km2 (145,936.53 sq mi).[2] It is the fourth-largest island country in the world and the largest island country in East Asia.[12] The country has the 6th longest coastline at 29,751 km (18,486 mi) and the 8th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 sq mi) in the world.[13]

The terrain is mostly rugged and mountainous, with 66% forest.[14] The population is clustered in urban areas along the coast, plains, and valleys.[15] Japan is located in the northwestern Ring of Fire on multiple tectonic plates.[16] East of the Japanese archipelago are three oceanic trenches. The Japan Trench is created as the oceanic Pacific Plate subducts beneath the continental Okhotsk Plate.[17] The continuous subduction process causes frequent earthquakes, tsunamis, and stratovolcanoes.[18] The islands are also affected by typhoons. The subduction plates have pulled the Japanese archipelago eastward, created the Sea of Japan, and separated it from the Asian continent by back-arc spreading 15 million years ago.[16]

The climate varies from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical and tropical rainforests in the south. These differences in climate and landscape have allowed the development of a diverse flora and fauna, with some rare endemic species, especially in the Ogasawara Islands.

Japan extends from 20° to 45° north latitude (Okinotorishima to Benten-jima) and from 122° to 153° east longitude (Yonaguni to Minami Torishima).[19] Japan is surrounded by seas. To the north, the Sea of Okhotsk separates it from the Russian Far East; to the west, the Sea of Japan separates it from the Korean Peninsula; to the southwest, the East China Sea separates the Ryukyu Islands from China and Taiwan; to the east is the Pacific Ocean.

A map of Japan
Japanese archipelago with outlined islands

The Japanese archipelago is over 3,000 km (1,900 mi) long in a north-to-southwardly direction from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean.[8] It is narrow, and no point in Japan is more than 150 km (93 mi) from the sea. In 2023, a government recount of the islands with digital maps increased the total from 6,852 to 14,125 islands.[9] The five main islands are (from north to south) Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Three of the four major islands (Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku) are separated by narrow straits of the Seto Inland Sea and form a natural entity. The 6,847 smaller islands are called remote islands.[10][11] This includes the Bonin Islands, Daitō Islands, Minami-Tori-shima, Okinotorishima, the Ryukyu Islands, the Volcano Islands, Nansei Islands, and the Nanpō Islands, as well as numerous islets, of which 430 are inhabited. The Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan but disputed by China. This excludes the disputed Northern Territories (Kuril Islands) and Liancourt Rocks. In total, as of 2021, Japan's territory is 377,973.89 km2 (145,936.53 sq mi), of which 364,546.41 km2 (140,752.16 sq mi) is land and 13,430 km2 (5,190 sq mi) is water.[2] Japan has the sixth longest coastline in the world (29,751 km (18,486 mi)). It is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth largest island country in the world.[12]

Because of Japan's many far-flung outlying islands and long coastline, the country has extensive marine life and mineral resources in the ocean. The Exclusive Economic Zone of Japan covers 4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 sq mi) and is the 8th largest in the world. It is more than 11 times the land area of the country.[13] The Exclusive Economic Zone stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its coast. Its territorial sea is 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi), but between 3 and 12 nmi (5.6 and 22.2 km; 3.5 and 13.8 mi) in the international straits—La Pérouse (or Sōya Strait), Tsugaru Strait, Ōsumi, and Tsushima Strait.

Japan has a population of 126 million in 2019.[20] It is the 11th most populous country in the world and the second most populous island country.[12] 81% of the population lives on Honshu, 10% on Kyushu, 4.2% on Hokkaido, 3% on Shikoku, 1.1% in Okinawa Prefecture, and 0.7% on other Japanese islands such as the Nanpō Islands.

  1. ^ "Countries ranked by Surface area (Sq. Km)". Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Geospatial Information Authority of Japan 2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Japan". CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Shinano River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Lake Biwa". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference japan-seabed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference World review of fisheries and aquaculture was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b "Water Supply in Japan". Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Archived from the original (website) on January 26, 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  9. ^ a b c "Recount with digital map leads to doubling of listed Japanese islands". Japan Times. Feb 15, 2023. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "離島とは(島の基礎知識)" (in Japanese). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original (website) on November 13, 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  11. ^ a b "離島とは(島の基礎知識) (what is a remote island?)". MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) (in Japanese). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 22 August 2015. Archived from the original (website) on 2007-11-13. Retrieved 9 August 2019. MILT classification 6,852 islands (main islands: 5 islands, remote islands: 6,847 islands)
  12. ^ a b c "Island Countries Of The World". WorldAtlas.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  13. ^ a b "日本の領海等概念図". 海上保安庁海洋情報部. Archived from the original on August 12, 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference worldbank was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "地形分類" (PDF). Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  16. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Barnes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Sella, Giovanni F.; Dixon, Timothy H.; Mao, Ailin (2002). "REVEL: A model for Recent plate velocities from space geodesy". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 107 (B4): ETG 11–1–ETG 11–30. Bibcode:2002JGRB..107.2081S. doi:10.1029/2000jb000033. ISSN 0148-0227. Archived from the original on 2020-06-07. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference volcanoes-japan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference geohack was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference SBJ-Population-June-2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).