in the middle of japan there are mountains. they cover the middle of the islands and leave a very narrow strip of flat land on most coasts. many of the mountains are extinct volcanoes, but some are still active. the highest of these mountains is the beautiful, volcano-shaped mt fuji (3,776 metres or 12,389 feet high). japan has many earthquakes, in fact there are about 1500 of these every year. the biggest earthquake recorded in japan was in 2011 - called '2011 tohoku earthquake'. it caused great damage to several power plants forcing japan to shut down all its nuclear plants. there was nuclear core meltdown which caused a serious health risk to nearby villages and cities.