japan is a group of islands in the western pacific, off the coast of china. the four biggest islands are honshu, hokkaido, shikoku, and kyushu, and there are about 6,000 smaller islands there. japan is separated from the asian continent by the sea of japan and the east china sea. honshu, which means 'mainland' in the japanese language, is the biggest island. hokkaido is the island north of honshu. kyushu is the island west of honshu. shikoku is the island to the south-west of honshu.