List of islands of Japan

Japanese islands outlined

Japan is an island country of 14,125 islands, of which approximately 260 are inhabited.[1][2] Japan is the fourth-largest island country in the world, behind Australia, Indonesia, and Madagascar.[3] Japan is also the second-most-populous island country in the world, only behind Indonesia.

According to a survey conducted by the Japan Coast Guard in 1987, the number of islands in Japan was 6,852. At that time, the survey only counted islands with coastlines of 100 meters or more that were shown on paper maps. On February 28, 2023, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan announced that the number of islands had been updated to 14,125 through a recount using digital maps. Since there is no international standard for counting islands, only islands with a coastline of 100 meters or more were counted, as in the past. According to the GSI, advances in surveying technology and the detailed representation of topographic features through digital mapping contributed to this announcement.[4][1]

  1. ^ a b Kojo, Hirotaka (February 15, 2023). "Japan has more than 14,000 islands, digital mapping reveals". The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on February 21, 2023.
  2. ^ McCurry, Justin (February 16, 2023). "Japan sees its number of islands double after recount". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023.
  3. ^ "Island Countries Of The World". WorldAtlas.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  4. ^ "我が国の島を一定の条件のもと数えました。その結果、14,125島となりましたので、お知らせいたします。". Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. February 28, 2023. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023.