What is the size of Japan by area?
Geography of Japan
Japan is an island nation comprising a stratovolcanic archipelago over along East Asia's Pacific coast. It consists of 6,852 islands. The main islands are Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido. The Ryukyu Islands and Nanpō Islands are south of the main islands. The territory extends . It is the largest island country in East Asia and fourth largest island country in the world. Japan has the sixth longest coastline and the eight largest Exclusive Economic Zone of in the world.
Kagawa Prefecture
Kagawa is currently the smallest prefecture, by area, in Japan. Osaka Prefecture held that title until Kansai International Airport was reclaimed from the ocean in the early 1990s, pushing its land area slightly above Kagawa's. Kagawa is a relatively narrow prefecture located between the mountains of Shikoku and the sea.
Geography of Japan
The Japanese archipelago is mainly rugged and mountainous (73%) so the relatively small amount of habitable land has prompted significant terrain modification by humans over many centuries.
Geography of Japan
Japan is informally divided into eight regions from north to south:
Japan
In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasizing liberal democratic practices. The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952 and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956. Japan later achieved rapid growth to become the second-largest economy in the world, until surpassed by China in 2010. This ended in the mid-1990s when Japan suffered a major recession. In the beginning of the 21st century, positive growth has signaled a gradual economic recovery. On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest earthquakes in its recorded history; this triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, one of the worst disasters in the history of nuclear power.
Map of Japan (Kanazawa Bunko)
A map of Japan currently stored at Kanazawa Bunko depicts Japan and surrounding countries, both real and imaginary. The date of creation is unknown but probably during the Kamakura period. It is one of the oldest surviving Gyōki-type maps of Japan. It reveals Japan's self-image and the understanding of neighboring countries after the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281
It is 34.2 cm by 51.8 cm. Only the western half of the map is extant. It is likely that the map was originally in possession of the "medieval" Kanazawa Bunko, which had been founded by the Hōjō clan, the de facto ruler of the Kamakura shogunate. After the downfall of the Kamakura shogunate, the holdings of Kanazawa Bunko were stored at the neighboring temple of Shōmyōji, which had also been established by the Hōjō clan. After the "modern" Kanazawa Bunko was re-established by Kanagawa Prefecture in 1930, the map among others were relocated. It was designated as an important cultural property in 1987.
List of stone circles
The larger circle, named the “Manza” circle has a diameter of 46 meters, and is the largest stone circle found in Japan. A number of reconstructions of Jomon period dwellings have been built around the site. The slightly smaller circle, named the “Nonakado” circle, is 42 meters in diameter and is located around 90 meters away, separated from the “Manza” circle by Akita Prefectural Route 66. Each circle is made from rounded river stones brought from another river approximately 7 kilometers away. Each circle in concentric, with and inner and an outer ring separated by an open strip approximately 8 meters wide.[2]Each circle contains smaller clusters of stone, including standing stones surrounded by elongated stones in a radiating orientation, forming a sundial which points toward the sunset on the summer solstice and allows for calculation of the winter solstice, the vernal equinox and the sun's movements.[3]
Geography of Japan
The Japanese islands are the summits of mountain ridges uplifted near the outer edge of the continental shelf. About 73 percent of Japan's area is mountainous, and scattered plains and intermontane basins (in which the population is concentrated) cover only about 27 percent. A long chain of mountains runs down the middle of the archipelago, dividing it into two halves, the "face", fronting on the Pacific Ocean, and the "back", toward the Sea of Japan. On the Pacific side are steep mountains 1,500 to 3,000 meters high, with deep valleys and gorges.
Shizuoka (city)
Shizuoka City lies in central Shizuoka Prefecture, about halfway between Tokyo and Nagoya along the Tōkaidō Corridor, between Suruga Bay to the south and the Minami Alps in the north. Shizuoka had the largest area of any municipality in Japan after merging with Shimizu City in April 2003, until February 2005, when Takayama in Gifu Prefecture superseded it by merging with nine surrounding municipalities.
The total area is . Shizuoka is the 5th largest city in Japan in terms of geographic area after Takayama, Hamamatsu, Nikkō, and Kitami. It is also the 2nd largest city in Shizuoka Prefecture in terms of both geographic area and population after Hamamatsu, but ranks higher as an Urban Employment Area, and leads as a metropolitan area and business region.
Great Lakes Megalopolis
According to the Brookings Institution, if it stood alone as a country, the economy of the Great Lakes region which includes most of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, would be one of the largest economic units in the world (with a $4.5-trillion gross regional product), roughly equal to that of Japan. The five Great Lakes contain one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water and have a combined shoreline of 10,210 miles (17,017 km). About 200 million tons of cargo are shipped by way of the Great Lakes each year.
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan (see below for other names) is a marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula and Russia. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Japan, Korea (North and South) and Russia. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific Ocean. This isolation also reflects in the fauna species and in the water salinity, which is lower than in the ocean. The sea has no large islands, bays or capes. Its water balance is mostly determined by the inflow and outflow through the straits connecting it to the neighboring seas and Pacific Ocean. Few rivers discharge into the sea and their total contribution to the water exchange is within 1%.
Geography of Japan
Since there is little level ground, many hills and mountainsides at lower elevations around towns and cities are often cultivated. As Japan is situated in a volcanic zone along the Pacific deeps, frequent low-intensity earth tremors and occasional volcanic activity are felt throughout the islands. Destructive earthquakes occur several times a century. Hot springs are numerous and have been exploited as an economic capital by the leisure industry.
Geography of Japan
During the 2013 eruption southeast of Nishinoshima, a new unnamed volcanic island emerged from the sea. Due to erosion and shifting sands, the new island merged with Nishinoshima and ceased to be a separate entity. A 1911 survey determined the caldera was at its deepest. This land formed naturally and increased the size of Japan.
Kantō Plain
The is the largest plain in Japan, and is located in the Kantō region of central Honshū. The total area 17,000 km covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture.
Greater Tokyo Area
Using the "One Metropolis Three Prefectures" definition, Tokyo is , a similar size to that of Los Angeles County, and almost two-thirds smaller than the Combined Statistical Area of New York City, at and 21.9 million people. Other metropolitan areas such as Greater Jakarta are considerably more compact as well as more densely populated than Greater Tokyo.Tokyo is legally classified as a , which translates as "metropolis", and is treated as one of the forty-seven prefectures of Japan. The metropolis is administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a whole.
Saga Prefecture
After the Boshin War, many people from Saga Domain assisted in the Meiji Restoration. In the Meiji era the modernization of coal mines in Kishima and Higashimatsuura districts, among others, progressed bolstered by the construction of railroads.Kyushu's prefecture, Saga, is located on the northwest corner of the island, bordered by the Genkai Sea and the Tsushima Strait to the north and the Ariake Sea to the south. Saga's proximity to mainland Asia has made it an important gateway for the transmission of culture and trade throughout Japanese history. Largely rural outside of the two largest cities of Saga and Karatsu, agricultural and forested lands comprise over 68% of the total prefectural land area. There are six prefectural parks and one quasi-national park in Saga.
Total area: 2439.31 km
Geography of Japan
The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan measures Japan's territory annually in order to continuously grasp the state of the national land. As of January 31, 2018 (Heisei 30) Japan's territory is . It increased in area due to the volcanic eruption activity of Nishinoshima (西之島) and the natural expansion of the island.
Geography of Japan
The terrain is mostly rugged and mountainous with 66% forest. The population is clustered in urban areas on the coast, plains and valleys. Japan is located in the northwestern Ring of Fire on multiple tectonic plates. 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. The continuous subduction process causes frequent earthquakes, tsunami and stratovolcanoes. 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.
Japan
Japan has a total of 6,852 islands extending along the Pacific coast. It is over long from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean. The country, including all of the islands it controls, lies between latitudes 24° and 46°N, and longitudes 122° and 146°E. The main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. The Nanpō Islands are south of the main islands of Japan. Together they are often known as the Japanese archipelago. , Japan's territory is . It is the largest island country in East Asia. Japan has the sixth longest coastline in the world (). It doesn't have land borders. Due to its many far-flung outlying islands, Japan has the eighth largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world covering .
Energy in Japan
Of other renewable energy sources, Japan has partially exploited geothermal energy. The country had six geothermal power stations with a combined capacity of 133 megawatts in 1989. By 2011, the country had 18 geothermal plants. Japan has the third largest geothermal reserves in the world, and geothermal energy in particular is being heavily focused on as a source of power following the Fukushima disaster and subsequent shutdown of all nuclear reactors. The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is currently exploring over 40 locations to see if geothermal energy plants would be compatible.
Core cities of Japan
A is a class or category of Japanese city. It is a local administrative division created by the national government. Core cities are delegated many functions normally carried out by prefectural governments, but not as many as designated cities. To become a candidate for core city status, a city must have a population greater than 300,000 and an area greater than 100 square kilometers, although special exceptions may be made by order of the cabinet for cities with populations under 300,000 but over 200,000. After the abolition of special city status on Apri 1, 2015, any city with a population above 200,000 may apply for core city status.
Japan
Approximately 0.5% of Japan's total area is reclaimed land (umetatechi). It began in the 12th century. Late 20th and early 21st century projects include artificial islands such as Chubu Centrair International Airport in Ise Bay, Kansai International Airport in the middle of Osaka Bay, Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise and Wakayama Marina City. The village of Ogata in Akita, Japan, was established on land reclaimed from Lake Hachirogata starting in 1957. By 1977, the amount of land reclaimed totaled . The Isahaya Bay reclamation project (諫早湾干拓事業) in Isahaya, Nagasaki started in 1989 and a total of has been reclaimed as of 2018.
Photo print sizes
In Japan, the same print sizes (and several additional ones) are known by different names. The Japanese L is equivalent to 3R, while 2L—twice the size—matches 5R. KG represents the size of a traditional 4×6 in (4R) Japanese postcard ("hagaki"). The "n"P or series are defined in reference to a of 457×560 mm, with smaller numbers (fewer cuts) indicating "larger" sizes.
List of extreme points of Japan
Japan extends from 20° to 45° north longitude (Okinotorishima to Benten-jima) and from 122° to 153° east latitude (Yonaguni to Minami Torishima). The coordinates used in this article are sourced from Google Earth, which makes use of the World Geodetic System (WGS) 84.
Okinotorishima
Japan claims an EEZ over 400,000 square km (154,500 square miles) around Okinotorishima. China and South Korea dispute this claim in their addenda to the CLCS, saying the area only consists of rocks and not islands. Neither China nor South Korea have territorial claims regarding Okinotorishima, but foreign policy analysts speculated that it wants to "investigate the surrounding seabed for submarine operations in case of military conflict involving the Republic of China (Taiwan)." Japan claims that rock is not defined in the Convention. Besides, the construction of port, lighthouse and power station may be used as a counterargument for PRC's claim regarding "sustain human habitation or economic life".
Childbirth in Japan
The population of Japan in 2009 was 127.51 million. It is the tenth largest population in the world with the fifth highest population density. The country is increasingly urban. About 45% of the population was, in 2005, centered within 50 kilometers of the three largest cities in Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.
Iwo Jima
Although south of the metropolis of Tokyo on the mainland, this island of 21 km (8 square miles) is administered as part of the Ogasawara Subprefecture of Tokyo and since July 1944, when the civilian population was forcibly evacuated, has been only populated by military forces.
Geography of Japan
is the second largest island of Japan, and the largest and northernmost prefecture. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu.. It has the third largest population of the four main islands with 5,383,579 (2015) and the lowest population density with just (2016). The island area ranks 21st in the world by area. It is 3.6% smaller than the island of Ireland.
Texas
Texas is the second-largest U.S. state, after Alaska, with an area of . Though 10% larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile and Zambia.
Demographics of Japan
Japan has a high population concentration in urban areas on the plains since 75% of Japan’s land area is made up of mountains, and also Japan has a forest cover rate of 68.5% (the only other developed countries with such a high forest cover percentage are Finland and Sweden).
The 2010 census shows 90.7% of the total Japanese population live in cities.
Japanese archipelago
The archipelago consists of 6,852 islands (here defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), of which 430 are inhabited. The four main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu; Honshu is the largest and referred to as the Japanese mainland.
Geography of Japan
Japan is generally a rainy country with high humidity. Because of its wide range of latitude, seasonal winds and different types of ocean currents, Japan has a variety of climates, with a latitude range of the inhabited islands from 24° to 46° north, which is comparable to the range between Nova Scotia and The Bahamas in the east coast of North America. Tokyo is at about 35 degrees north latitude, comparable to that of Tehran, Athens, or Las Vegas.
Digital divide by country
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is aiming to improve broadband penetration in remote areas of Japan, but businesses aren’t exactly queuing up to provide expensive infrastructure to hook up remote islands and mountain villages. Japan has more than 4000 islands, 260 of which are inhabited. Japan's land is also 73% mountainous or hilly, and whilst the population is concentrated mainly in the alluvial plains and coastal areas, there are significant populations living in remote valleys deep in the mountains mainly engaged in agriculture or forestry. It is difficult to justify building out a fiber-based infrastructure to a remote island, or to a dead end mountain ravine community miles from anywhere.
Japan
Japan's legislative body is the National Diet, seated in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The Diet is a bicameral body, comprising the lower House of Representatives with 465 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved; and the upper House of Councillors with 242 seats, whose popularly elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal suffrage for adults over 18 years of age, with a secret ballot for all elected offices. The Diet is currently dominated by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), with the largest opposition party being the social-liberal Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP). The LDP has enjoyed near-continuous electoral success since 1955, except for brief periods between 1993 and 1994 and from 2009 to 2012. , it holds 283 seats in the lower house and 125 seats in the upper house.
Tadaoka, Osaka
As of October 2016, the town has an estimated population of 17,187 and a density of 4,300 persons per km². The total area is 4.03 km². It is the smallest town in Japan in terms of land area.
Geography of Japan
The Japanese archipelago is over long in a north-to-southwardly direction from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean. The major islands, sometimes called the "Home Islands", are (from east to west) Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku and Kyushu. There are 6,852 islands in total, including the Nansei Islands, the Nanpō Islands and islets, with 430 islands being inhabited and others uninhabited. In total, as of 2018, Japan's territory is , of which is land and water. Japan has the sixth longest coastline in the world (). It is the largest island country in East Asia and fourth largest island country in the world. There are a wide range of climatic zones and ecosystems.
Geography of Japan
Japan's varied geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones.As an island nation, Japan has the 6th longest coastline in the world. A few prefectures are landlocked: Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Nagano, Yamanashi, Gifu, Shiga, and Nara. As Mt. Fuji and the coastal Japanese Alps provide a rain shadow, Nagano and Yamanashi Prefectures receive the least precipitation in Honshu, though it still exceeds annually. A similar effect is found in Hokkaido, where Okhotsk Subprefecture receives as little as per year. All other prefectures have coasts on the Pacific Ocean, Sea of Japan, Seto Inland Sea or have a body of salt water connected to them. Two prefectures—Hokkaido and Okinawa—are composed entirely of islands.
Ryukyuan people
Okinawa comprises just 0.6% of Japan's total land mass, yet about 75 percent of all U.S. military installations stationed in Japan are assigned to bases in Okinawa. The presence of the military remains a sensitive issue in local politics. Feelings against the mainland Government, Emperor (especially Hirohito due to his involvement in the sacrifice of Okinawa and later military occupation), and U.S. military (USFJ, SACO) have often caused open criticism and protests, for example of 85,000 people in 1995 after the U.S. military rape incident, or 110,000 people in 2007 due to Ministry of Education's textbook revisions (see MEXT controversy) of the Japanese military forced mass suicide of the civilians during the Battle of Okinawa. For many years the Emperors avoided visiting Okinawa, with the first ever in history done by Akihito in 1993, since it was assumed that his visits would likely cause uproar rather than respect, like in July 1975 when Akihito as a crown prince visited Okinawa and a firebomb was thrown at him, although these tensions have eased in recent years. Discrimination against Okinawans both past and present on part of the mainland Japanese is the cause of their smoldering resentment against the government, seen in the post-war Ryukyu independence movement.
Geography of Japan
is the largest island of Japan. It has a population of 104,000,000 with a population density of (2010) . Honshu is roughly long and ranges from wide, and its total area is . This makes it slightly larger than the island of Great Britain .
Geography of Japan
The national territory also includes the Volcano Islands (Kazan Retto) such as Iwo Jima, located some 1,200 kilometers south of mainland Tokyo. A territorial dispute with Russia, dating from the end of World War II, over the two southernmost of the Kuril Islands, Etorofu and Kunashiri, and the smaller Shikotan Island and Habomai Islands northeast of Hokkaido remains a sensitive spot in Japanese–Russian relations (). Excluding disputed territory, the archipelago covers about 378,000 square kilometers. No point in Japan is more than 150 kilometers from the sea.
Ragnar Nurkse's balanced growth theory
Nurkse also refuted the claim that if a country's geographical area is large, the size of its market also ought to be large. A country may be extremely small in area but still have a large effective demand. For example, Japan. In contrast, a country may cover a huge geographical area but its market may still be small. This may occur if a large part of the country is uninhabitable, or if the country suffers from low productivity levels and thus has a low National Income.
Megalopolis
Japan is made up of overlapping megapolises. The Taiheiyō Belt megapolis itself includes both the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihanshin megapoles.
Western Region Supercity of Colombo (Megapolis) with 3,687 km land area and currently over 7 million population comprising several municipal, urban, and town councils politically. This is planned to be spacious and modern megacity with dedicated core zones for financial, trade, industrial, educational, logistic, transport, health, sports, recreational activities and services in par with the international level. Once completed it would be one of the most livable and favored cities in the world.
List of territories occupied by Imperial Japan
This is a list of regions occupied or annexed by the Empire of Japan until 1945, the year of the end of World War II in Asia, after the surrender of Japan. Control over all territories except the Japanese mainland (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and some 6,000 small surrounding islands) was renounced by Japan in the Unconditional Surrender after World War II and the Treaty of San Francisco. A number of territories occupied by the United States after 1945 were returned to Japan, but there are still a number of disputed territories, with Russia (the Kuril Islands dispute), South Korea and North Korea (the Liancourt Rocks dispute), the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (the Senkaku Islands dispute).
Other occupied World War 2 islands:
Bōsō Peninsula
The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers approximately .
Conurbation
The Taiheiyō Belt is the largest conurbation in Japan in every sense, extending from Ibaraki Prefecture to Fukuoka Prefecture, running almost 1,200 km, with the total population of 82.9 million. However, it is rarely referred to in Japan itself with each Prefecture maintaining separate identities. The Greater Tokyo Area, also called Shutoken (the National Capital Region), is a metropolitan area in the Kantō region, with the estimated population of 35,676,000 in 2007, often referred to as the most populous and economically largest metropolitan area in the world.
United States
The United States is the world's third- or fourth-largest nation by total area (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted, and how the total size of the United States is measured. The "Encyclopædia Britannica", for instance, lists the size of the United States as , as they do not count the country's coastal or territorial waters. "The World Factbook", which includes those waters, gives .
Geography of Japan
Japan extends from 20° to 45° north longitude (Okinotorishima to Benten-jima) and from 122° to 153° east latitude (Yonaguni to Minami Torishima). Japan is surrounded by sea. 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.
List of islands of Japan by area
This article used material from Japanese Wikipedia page , accessed 28 July 2017
Wildlife of Japan
The wildlife of Japan includes its flora, fauna and natural habitats. The islands of Japan stretch a long distance from north to south and cover a wide range of climatic zones. This results in a high diversity of wildlife despite Japan's isolation from the mainland of Asia. In the north of the country, north of Blakiston's Line, there are many subarctic species which have colonized Japan from the north. In the south there are south-east Asian species, typical of tropical regions. Between these areas lies the temperate zone which shares many species with China and Korea. Japan also has many endemic species that are found nowhere else in the world.
Transport in Japan
According to Japan Statistical Yearbook 2015, Japan in April 2012 had approximately 1,215,000 km of roads made up of 1,022,000 km of city, town and village roads, 129,000 km of prefectural roads, 55,000 km of general national highways and 8,050 km of national expressways. The Foreign Press Center/Japan cites a total length of expressways at 7,641 km (fiscal 2008). A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities on Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Hokkaido has a separate network, and Okinawa Island has a highway of this type. In the year 2005, the toll collecting companies, formerly Japan Highway Public Corporation, have been transformed into private companies in public ownership, and there are plans to sell parts of them. The aim of this policy is to encourage competition and decrease tolls.
Japan
About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial or residential use. As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities. Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
Areas protected under the Nature Conservation Law of Japan
As of 31 March 2015, five hundred and forty-four Prefectural Nature Conservation Areas have been designated, with a total area of 774.08 km.
History of Japan
The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into a constitutional monarchy. After 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth, and became a world economic powerhouse. Since the 1990s, economic stagnation has been a major issue. An earthquake, and tsunami in 2011 caused massive economic dislocations and a serious nuclear power disaster.
Exclusive economic zone of Japan
The Japanese archipelago consists of about 6,852 islands. The Exclusive Economic Zone of Japan includes:Japan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on 10 December 1982 and has contributed to three UNCLOS organizations such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
Japanese units of measurement
The base unit of Japanese area is the "tsubo", equivalent to a square ken or 36 square "shaku". It is twice the size of the "jō", the area of the Nagoya tatami mat. Both units are used informally in discussing real estate floorspace. Due to historical connections, the tsubo is still used as the official base unit of area in Taiwan.
Geography of Japan
is the smallest of the four main islands, . It is located south of Honshu and north east of Kyushu. It has the smallest population of 3,845,534 million (2015) and the third highest population density of .
Geography of Japan
About 73% of Japan is mountainous, with a mountain range running through each of the main islands. Japan's highest mountain is Mount Fuji, with an elevation of . Japan's forest cover rate is 68.55% since the mountains are heavily forested. The only other developed nations with such a high forest cover percentage are Finland and Sweden.
Standard of living in Japan
According to William G. Beasley, Japanese living standards were in many ways “undoubtedly impressive by the 1980s: high real wages, low unemployment rates, excellent health care, above average consumption of goods and services”. Nevertheless, a 1986 white paper found that in matters affecting the quality of life, Japan still lagged behind America and Europe. Nearly 75% of all power lines in Tokyo were still above ground, while only just over one-third of homes were connected to sewers. In 1985, only 36% of Japanese households had access to sewage facilities, compared with 65% in France (1975) and 97% in the United Kingdom (1976). Per capita park space in central Tokyo was only 2.2 square metres, compared with between 30 and 50 square metres in Washington, London, and Bonn. The ratio of roads to total area was also low in central Tokyo at 14%, compared with 17% in London and 20% in Paris.
Geography of Japan
The regions are not official administrative units, but have been traditionally used as the regional division of Japan in a number of contexts. For example, maps and geography textbooks divide Japan into the eight regions, weather reports usually give the weather by region, and many businesses and institutions use their home region as part of their name (Kinki Nippon Railway, Chūgoku Bank, Tohoku University, etc.). While Japan has eight High Courts, their jurisdictions do not correspond with the eight regions.
Embassy of the United States, Tokyo
The land on which the embassy sits is about 13,000 m² (3.21 acres), and has been leased from the Japanese government since 1896. In 2005, it was reported that the US government had made no payments for the embassy's premises since 1998 after failing to agree on a renewal of the lease agreement. In 2007, the two governments agreed to renew the lease through 2027, following which the US government paid its unpaid rent. The annual rent for the underlying land was set at 7 million yen for 1998-2007, 10 million yen for 2008-12, and 15 million yen for 2013-27. The very low rent amount for the land is due to the age of the lease agreement, and the fact that it originally contained no escalation or adjustment provisions.
Geography of Japan
The mountainous islands of the Japanese archipelago form a crescent off the eastern coast of Asia. They are separated from the mainland by the Sea of Japan, which historically served as a protective barrier. The country consists of four major islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu; with more than 6,500 adjacent smaller islands and islets ("island" defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), including the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands in the Nanpō Islands, and the Satsunan Islands, Okinawa Islands, and Sakishima Islands of the Ryukyu Islands.
Greater Tokyo Area
The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan, including Tokyo Metropolis, as well as the prefecture of Yamanashi of the neighboring Chūbu region. In Japanese, it is referred to by various terms, one of the most common being .
Japan
Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Ryūkyū and Bonin Islands, to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to temperate coniferous forests in the cold, winter portions of the northern islands. Japan has over 90,000 species of wildlife, including the brown bear, the Japanese macaque, the Japanese raccoon dog, the large Japanese field mouse, and the Japanese giant salamander. A large network of national parks has been established to protect important areas of flora and fauna as well as thirty-seven Ramsar wetland sites. Four sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their outstanding natural value.
Economy of Japan
Japan's service sector accounts for about three-quarters of its total economic output. Banking, insurance, real estate, retailing, transportation, and telecommunications are all major industries such as Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho, NTT, TEPCO, Nomura, Mitsubishi Estate, ÆON, Mitsui Sumitomo, Softbank, JR East, Seven & I, KDDI and Japan Airlines counting as one of the largest companies in the world. Four of the five most circulated newspapers in the world are Japanese newspapers. The Koizumi government set Japan Post, one of the country's largest providers of savings and insurance services for privatization by 2015. The six major keiretsus are the Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Fuyo, Mitsui, Dai-Ichi Kangyo and Sanwa Groups. Japan is home to 251 companies from the Forbes Global 2000 or 12.55% (as of 2013).
Geography of Japan
, 46.1% of energy in Japan was produced from petroleum, 21.3% from coal, 21.4% from natural gas, 4.0% from nuclear power and 3.3% from hydropower. Nuclear power is a major domestic source of energy and produced 9.2 percent of Japan's electricity, , down from 24.9 percent the previous year. Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster in 2011, the nuclear reactors were shut down. Thus Japan's industrial sector became even more dependent than before on imported fossil fuels. By May 2012 all of the country's nuclear power plants were taken offline because of ongoing public opposition following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, though government officials continued to try to sway public opinion in favor of returning at least some of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors to service. Shinzo Abe’s government seeks to restart the nuclear power plants that meet strict new safety standards and is emphasizing nuclear energy’s importance as a base-load electricity source. , two reactors at Sendai are likely to restart in early 2015. In August 2015, Japan successfully restarted one nuclear reactor at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima prefecture, and several other reactors around the country have since resumed operations. Opposition from local governments has delayed several restarts that remain pending.
Japanese maps
"Between Meiji era and the end of World War II, map production in Japan was conducted by the Land Survey Department of the General Staff Headquarters, the former Japanese army. Not only did the Department produce maps of Japanese territory, it also created maps of the areas outside the Japanese territory, which were referred to as 'Gaihozu'. Presently, 'Gaihozu' include the maps of the former Japanese territories, and are predominantly in scales ranging from 1:25,000 to 1:500,000. Their geographical coverage stretches to Alaska northward, covering areas of U.S. mainland eastward, Australia southward, and westward to parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Madagascar. The methods of the map production varied from surveys by the Japanese survey squads, reproducing maps produced abroad and secret surveys by sealed order. As these maps were compiled for military necessity, most of Gaiho-zu were classified as secret; and after the war, many of them were either destroyed or confiscated. Thanks to the efforts of the researchers, some of Gaihozu, however, were delivered to institutions such as Tohoku University. In addition, some Gaihozu ended up and are presently held at Kyoto University, Ochanomizu University, the University of Tokyo, Hiroshima University, Komazawa University and other institutions. Despite the fact that these maps were prepared for military purpose, they have high value as they are the accurate records of earth scientific landscapes between the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century."
Geography of Japan
There is one supervolcano in the Kikai Caldera (鬼界カルデラ) . It is a massive, mostly submerged caldera up to 19 kilometres (12 mi) in diameter in the Ōsumi Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It is the remains of the ancient eruption of a gigantic volcano. Its geographic coordinates are: Latitude (dd.) 30.79 and Longitude (dd.) 130.31 Kikai Caldera was the source of the Akahoya eruption, one of the largest eruptions during the Holocene (10,000 years ago to present). About 6,300 years ago or 4,300 BC, pyroclastic flows from that eruption reached the coast of southern Kyūshū up to away, and ash fell as far as Hokkaidō. The eruption produced about 150 km³ of tephra, giving it a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7
Telephone numbers in Japan
Geographic numbers are nine digits long, including the area code, but not including the leading zero. Consequently, densely populated areas have shorter area codes, while less populated areas have longer area codes. For example:Area codes increase from north to south; Sapporo in Hokkaidō (the northernmost prefecture) has 11, and Setouchi's 99-73 is far to the south in Kagoshima. When the telephone system was devised, Okinawa was still under U.S. occupation, so when it was returned to Japan in 1972, its telephone numbers were squeezed between Miyazaki (98x) and Kagoshima (99x) and begin with 988, 989, and 980.
Geography of Japan
Rivers are generally steep and swift, and few are suitable for navigation except in their lower reaches. Although most rivers are less than 300 kilometers in length, their rapid flow from the mountains provides a valuable, renewable resource: hydroelectric power generation. Japan's hydroelectric power potential has been exploited almost to capacity. Seasonal variations in flow have led to extensive development of flood control measures. Most of the rivers are relatively short. The longest, the Shinano River, which winds through Nagano Prefecture to Niigata Prefecture and flows into the Sea of Japan, is long. The largest freshwater lake is Lake Biwa , northeast of Kyoto.
Geography of Japan
The populated plains or mountain basins are not extensive in area. The largest, the Kantō Plain, where Tokyo is situated, covers only 13,000 square kilometers. Other important plains are the Nōbi Plain surrounding Nagoya, the Kinai Plain in the Osaka–Kyoto area, the Sendai Plain around the city of Sendai in northeastern Honshū, and the Ishikari Plain on Hokkaidō. Many of these plains are along the coast, and their areas have been increased by land reclamation throughout recorded history.
Water supply and sanitation in Japan
Water use is about 83.5 km3, or 20% of water availability in an average year. However, there are large variations in the utilization rate between years and regions. For example, in the coastal part of the Kantō region that includes Tokyo the utilization rate is over 90% in a dry year. In the relatively dry north of Kyushu it is more than 50%. Of the total use 55.2 km3 was for agriculture, 16.2 km3 for domestic use and 12.1 km3 for industrial use. Despite the introduction of water-saving devices domestic per capita use declined only slightly from 322 liter per capita per day in 2000 to 314 in 2004. Per capita water use thus is slightly lower than in the United States (371 liter in 2005) and more than twice as high as in Germany (122 liter in 2007) or in England (145 liter in 2009).
Tatami
In Japan, the size of a room is often measured by the number of , about 1.653 square meters (for a standard Nagoya size tatami). Alternatively, in terms of traditional Japanese area units, room area (and especially house floor area) is measured in terms of "tsubo," where one "tsubo" is the area of two tatami mats (a square); formally 1 "ken" by 1 "ken" or a 1.81818 meter square, about 3.306 square meters.
Demographics of Japan
Japan's population density was 336 people per square kilometer as of 2014 (874 people per square mile) according to World Development Indicators. It ranks 35th in a list of countries by population density, ranking directly above Philippines (347 per km) and directly below Curacao (359 per km). Between 1955 and 1989, land prices in the six largest cities increased 15,000% (+12% a year). Urban land prices generally increased 40% from 1980 to 1987; in the six largest cities, the price of land doubled over that period. For many families, this trend put housing in central cities out of reach.
The result was lengthy commutes for many workers in the big cities, especially in Tokyo area where daily commutes of two hours each way are common. In 1991, as the bubble economy started to collapse, land prices began a steep decline, and within a few years fell 60% below their peak. After a decade of declining land prices, residents began moving back into central city areas (especially Tokyo's 23 wards), as evidenced by 2005 census figures. Despite nearly 70% of Japan being covered by forests, parks in many major cities—especially Tokyo and Osaka—are smaller and scarcer than in major West European or North American cities. As of 2014, parkland per inhabitant in Tokyo is 5.78 square meters, which is roughly half of the 11.5 square meters of Madrid.
Areas protected under the Nature Conservation Law of Japan
As of 31 March 2015, ten Nature Conservation Areas have been designated, with a total area of 225.42 km.
Childbirth in Japan
Japan is a country of islands with Korea to the west, China to the southwest, and Russia to the north. Most of the population lives on the four main islands located between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. These islands are called Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The entire land mass of Japan is slightly smaller than California, but the climate varies dramatically from cool and temperate in the north to tropical in the south. This mostly mountainous country is, based on its location, vulnerable to a variety of natural hazards including volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons.
2004 Chūetsu earthquake
The occurred in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, at 17:56 local time (08:56 UTC) on Saturday, October 23, 2004. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) named it the . Niigata Prefecture is located in the Hokuriku region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The initial earthquake had a magnitude of 6.6 and caused noticeable shaking across almost half of Honshu, including parts of the Tōhoku, Hokuriku, Chūbu, and Kantō regions.
Childbirth in Japan
The US then occupied Japan from 1945 to 1952 under General Douglas MacArthur. A new constitution took effect in 1947 according to which the emperor became largely a symbolic head of state. Japan regained its sovereignty in 1952, and in 1972 the US gave back some islands, the Ryukyu, that included Okinawa. Japan's economic growth was swift, relying on new technologies, manufacturing and a protectionist attitude. In 1998, Japan – like much of the region – suffered the worst recession since World War II, which led eventually to the resignation of the prime minister. Since then the economy has improved, but is still plagued by stagnation, a fact that the recent 23-foot tsunami and the largest earthquake in Japanese history that struck on March 11, 2011 did not help. A tsunami triggered by a huge earthquake in 2011 stuck the nuclear power plant (NPP) in Fukushima and lead to the leakage of harmful radioactive materials, such as 131I, 137Cs, and 134Cs, into the environment. As a result, more than 170,000 people in Japan evacuated from the area at the time. The radioactive materials from Fukushima incident were released into the air and water, possibly polluting agriculture and marine life in Japan and other nearby countries.
Tokyo
As the largest population center in Japan and the site of the country's largest broadcasters and studios, Tokyo is frequently the setting for many Japanese movies, television shows, animated series ("anime"), web comics, light novels, video games, and comic books ("manga"). In the "kaiju" (monster movie) genre, landmarks of Tokyo are usually destroyed by giant monsters such as Godzilla and Gamera.
Aichi Prefecture
Located near the center of the Japanese main island of Honshu, Aichi Prefecture faces the Ise and Mikawa Bays to the south and borders Shizuoka Prefecture to the east, Nagano Prefecture to the northeast, Gifu Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture to the west. It measures 106 km east to west and 94 km south to north and forms a major portion of the Nōbi Plain. With an area of 5,153.81 km it accounts for approximately 1.36% of the total surface area of Japan. The highest spot is Chausuyama at 1,415 m above sea level.
List of Asian countries by area
Below is a list of all the Asian countries, in order of geographical area. Asia's total geographical area is 44,579,000 km².
Geography of Japan
The Sea of Japan has a surface area of , a mean depth of and a maximum depth of . It has a carrot-like shape, with the major axis extending from southwest to northeast and a wide southern part narrowing toward the north. The coastal length is about with the largest part () belonging to Russia. The sea extends from north to south for more than and has a maximum width of about .
Kansai region
The Kansai region is a cultural center and the historical heart of Japan, with 11% of the nation's land area and 22,757,897 residents as of 2010. The Osaka Plain with the cities of Osaka and Kyoto forms the core of the region, from there the Kansai area stretches west along the Seto Inland Sea towards Kobe and Himeji and east encompassing Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake. In the north, the region is bordered by the Sea of Japan, to the south by the Kii Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean, and to the east by the Ibuki Mountains and Ise Bay. Four of Japan's national parks lie within its borders, in whole or in part. The area also contains six of the seven top prefectures in terms of national treasures. Other geographical features include Amanohashidate in Kyoto Prefecture and Awaji Island in Hyōgo.
Kansai Science City
The overall area of the Kansai Science City is 150 km², with an estimated population of 410,000. There are 12 "Culture and Scientific Research Districts" within the Kansai Science City, encompassing 36 km², with an estimated population of 210,000.In 2016, a government committee planning the final Kyoto-Osaka segment of the Hokuriku Shinkansen proposed routing the new high-speed line through the Kansai Science City.This article was translated from a portion of the in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on December 10, 2006.
Labor market of Japan
Japan is now facing a shortage of labor caused by two major demographic problems: shrinking population because of a low fertility rate, which was 1.4 per woman in 2009, and replacement of the postwar generation which is the biggest population range who are now around retirement age. The population aged over 15 to 64 years old is 63.7% (80,730 thousand people) of the total population; most of them are considered as productive population who work and support those who are too old or too young to work, while the percentage of the population aged 65 and over is 23.1% of the total population in 2011 This impacts the shortage of labor in the physical care of the aged people, and Japanese government started bring in care workers from overseas which is managed by bilateral agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines.
United States Forces Japan
Okinawa makes up only 0.6 percent of the nation's land area; yet, approximately 62% of U.S. bases in Japan (exclusive use only) are in Okinawa.
List of metropolitan areas in Japan
The metropolitan areas written in bold are the 8 major metropolitan areas of Japan.Urban Employment Area is another definition of metropolitan areas, defined by the Center for Spatial Information Service, the University of Tokyo.
Geography of Japan
On 3 July 2018, Japan's government pledged to increase renewable energy sources from 15% to 22-24% including wind and solar by 2030. Nuclear energy will provide 20% of the country's energy needs as an emissions-free energy source. This will help Japan meet climate change commitments.
List of regions of Japan
The regions of Japan are not official administrative units, but have been traditionally used as the regional division of Japan in a number of contexts. For instance, maps and geography textbooks divide Japan into the eight regions, weather reports usually give the weather by region, and many businesses and institutions use their home region as part of their name (Kinki Nippon Railway, Chūgoku Bank, Tōhoku University, etc.). While Japan has eight High Courts, their jurisdictions do not correspond to the eight regions below.
Kyoto Prefecture
Kyoto Prefecture is almost in the center of Honshu and of Japan. It covers an area of , which is 1.2% of Japan. Kyoto is 31st by size. To the north, it faces the Sea of Japan and Fukui Prefecture. To the south, it faces Osaka and Nara Prefectures. To the east, it faces Mie and Shiga Prefectures. To its west is Hyōgo Prefecture. The prefecture is separated in the middle by the Tanba Mountains. This makes its climate very different in the north and south.
List of modern great powers
After suffering many defeats and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1945. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, and a new constitution was created with American involvement. The constitution came into force on 3 May 1947, officially dissolving the Empire. American occupation and reconstruction of the country continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose title is simply that ("the nation of Japan" Nippon-koku) or just "Japan".Founded in 1776 by thirteen coastal colonies that declared their independence from Great Britain, the United States began its westward expansion following the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of U.S. sovereignty in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The treaty bequeathed to the nascent republic all land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, and Americans began migrating there in large numbers at the end of the 18th Century, resulting in the displacement of Native American cultures, often through native peoples' forcible deportation and violent wars of eviction. These efforts at expansion were greatly strengthened by the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which resulted in the ratification of the United States Constitution and transformed the U.S. from a loose confederation of semi-autonomous states into a federal entity with a strong national core. In 1803, the United States acquired Louisiana from France, doubling the country's size and extending its borders to the Rocky Mountains.
Geography of Japan
The Greater Tokyo Area on Honshu is the biggest metropolitan area (megacity) in the world with people (2016). The area is and has a population density of .
Naval history of Japan
Japan seems to have been connected to the Asian landmass during the last Ice Age until around 20,000 BCE, both because of glaciation of sea water and the concomitant lowering of sea level by about 80 to 100 meters. This allowed for the transmission of fauna and flora, including the establishment of the Jōmon culture. After that period however, Japan became an isolated island territory, depending entirely on sporadic naval activity for its interactions with the mainland. The shortest seapath to the mainland (besides the inhospitable northern path from Hokkaidō to Sakhalin) then involved two stretches of open water about 50 kilometers wide, between the Korean peninsula and the island of Tsushima, and then from Tsushima to the major island of Kyūshū.
List of metropolitan areas in Japan
This is a list of in Japan by population as defined by the Statistics Bureau of Japan (SBJ) and the Center for Spatial Information Service of the University of Tokyo. The region containing most of the people in Japan between Tokyo and Fukuoka is often called the Taiheiyō Belt.
Japanese reaction to Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
In October 2011, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said the government will spend at least 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) to clean up vast areas contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Japan "faces the prospect of removing and disposing 29 million cubic meters of soil from a sprawling area in Fukushima, located 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, and four nearby prefectures".
Geography of Japan
Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch (2014). In 2005, Japan ranked sixth in the world in tonnage of fish caught. Japan captured 4,074,580 metric tons of fish in 2005, down from 4,987,703 tons in 2000 and 9,864,422 tons in 1980. In 2003, the total aquaculture production was predicted at 1,301,437 tonnes. In 2010, Japan's total fisheries production was 4,762,469 fish. Offshore fisheries accounted for an average of 50% of the nation's total fish catches in the late 1980s although they experienced repeated ups and downs during that period.
Geography of Japan
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was the largest ever recorded in Japan and is the world's fourth largest earthquake to strike since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Service. It struck offshore about northeast of Tokyo and east of the city of Sendai, and created a massive tsunami that devastated Japan's northeastern coastal areas. At least 100 aftershocks registering a 6.0 magnitude or higher have followed the main shock. At least 15,000 people died as a result.
Japanese temperate rainforest
The Japanese temperate rainforest is located in the Japanese archipelago, in small patches over a wide range of islands, from Kyushu in the South to Hokkaido in the North. Due to its geographic features and climate, the Japanese temperate rainforest is very different from other temperate rainforests in the world. The islands in the Japanese archipelago comprise about 1/400 of the world’s land. The islands are located on a latitude that is normally dry; desert can be found elsewhere in the world at this latitude. However, the oceans surrounding Japan provide enough precipitation to maintain a temperate rainforest.
Okinawa Island
Okinawa is the fifth largest island in Japan (excluding the disputed islands north of Hokkaido). The island has an area of . It is roughly south of the rest of Japan. The island is connected to nearby islands by a land bridge: Yokatsu Peninsula (aka Katsuren Peninsula) is connected via the Mid-Sea Road to Henza Island, Miyagi Island, Ikei Island, and Hamahiga Island. Similarly, from the Motobu Peninsula on the northwestern side, all of Sesokojima, plus both of Yagaji Island and Kōri-jima are connected by bridges. Okinawa Island has multiple beaches such as Manza Beach, Emerald Beach, Okuma Beach, Zanpa Beach, Moon Beach and Sunset Beach.
Geography of Japan
Due to Japan's many far-flung outlying islands and long coastline, the country has extensive marine resources. The Exclusive Economic Zone of Japan covers and is the eighth largest in the world. It is more than 11 times the land area of the country.
Geography of Japan
The Taiheiyō Belt is a megalopolis that includes the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihanshin megapoles. It's almost long from Ibaraki Prefecture in the northeast to Fukuoka Prefecture in the southwest. Satellite images at night show a dense and continuous strip of light (demarcating urban zones) that delineates the region with overlapping metropolitan areas in Japan. It has a total population of approximately 81,859,345 (2016).
Geography of Japan
Japan extends from 20° to 45° north longitude (Okinotorishima to Benten-jima) and from 122° to 153° east latitude (Yonaguni to Minami Torishima). These are the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location in Japan.