Japanese archipelago

Terminology

The term "Mainland Japan" is used to distinguish the large islands of the Japanese archipelago from the remote, smaller islands; it refers to the main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. From 1943 until the end of the Pacific War, Karafuto Prefecture (south Sakhalin) was designated part of the mainland. Geographically speaking the term "mainland" is somewhat inaccurate, as this refers to an expanse of territory that is attached to a continental landmass.

The term "home islands" was an exonym used at the end of World War II to define the area where Japanese sovereignty and constitutional rule of its emperor would be restricted. The term is also commonly used today to distinguish the archipelago from Japan's colonies and other territories.

Paleogeography

Main article: Geology of Japan

|File:Sea of Japan Early Miocene map.svg |Japanese archipelago, Sea of Japan and surrounding part of continental East Asia in Early Miocene (23–18 Ma) |File:Sea of Japan Pliocene map.svg |Japanese archipelago, Sea of Japan and surrounding part of continental East Asia in Middle Pliocene to Late Pliocene (3.5–2 Ma) |File:Japan glaciation.gif |Japanese archipelago at the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago, thin black line indicates present-day shorelines:

Geography

Main article: Geography of Japan

The archipelago consists of 14,125 islands (here defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), of which 430 are inhabited. The five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Honshu is the largest and is referred to as the Japanese mainland.

The topography is divided as:

• Hokkaido, Honshu, and Shikoku and its surrounding islands;
• Kyushu and the Ryukyu arc, which is composed of the Ryukyu Islands and other surrounding islands;
• Eastern part of Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands;
• Nanpō Islands and the Izu Peninsula (part of Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc).

Image gallery

|File:Ogasawara islands.png |The Nanpō Islands stretch to the southeast and are administered by the Tokyo Metropolis.|File:Location_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands.JPG |The Ryukyu Islands, which stretch towards Taiwan, are administered by Kagoshima Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture.|File:Japan_Relief_Map_of_Land_and_Seabed.png |Seabed relief map, showing surface and underwater terrain and islands such as Minami-Tori-Shima, Benten-jima, Okinotorishima, and Yonaguni}}

References

References

1. NHK Publishing. (24 May 2016)
2. (Feb 15, 2023). "Recount with digital map leads to doubling of listed Japanese islands".
3. "Water Supply in Japan". Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
4. "Island Countries Of The World". WorldAtlas.com.
5. (26 December 2019). "令和元年全国都道府県市区町村別面積調（１０月１日時点）, Reiwa 1st year National area of each prefecture municipality (as of October 1)". [[Geospatial Information Authority of Japan]].
6. "日本の領海等概念図". 海上保安庁海洋情報部.
7. [[Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism]]. link. (22 August 2015)
8. Milton W. Meyer, ''Japan: A Concise History'', fourth ed. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012, {{ISBN. link. (2023-02-26 .)
9. (1997). "Islands in Abundance". Limited.
10. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Japanese+Archipelago "Japanese Archipelago"] {{Webarchive. link. (2018-09-19 , [[TheFreeDictionary.com]], retrieved 24 June 2013.)