Japanese archipelago

The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, Hepburn: Nippon/Nihon Rettō) is a group of 14,125 islands that make up the country of Japan. These islands stretch over 3,000 kilometers from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China and Philippine seas in the southwest, sitting along the Pacific coast of the Eurasian continent.

Japan is the biggest island country in East Asia and the fourth-largest island country in the whole world, covering an area of 377,975.24 km². The country also has a large area of ocean called an exclusive economic zone that covers 4,470,000 km², giving it control over many resources far from its shores.

Terminology

The term "Mainland Japan" is used to talk about the big islands of the Japanese archipelago, like Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. It helps to tell these big islands apart from the smaller, faraway ones.

People have used the term "home islands" to describe where the Japanese emperor ruled. Today, people still use this term to talk about Japan’s main islands.

Paleogeography

Main article: Geology of Japan

The shape of Japan has changed a lot over many years. Scientists have looked at how Japan looked long ago, from the Early Miocene time to the Middle and Late Pliocene, and even during the Last Glacial Maximum, which was about 20,000 years ago. These changes show how the islands and nearby lands have moved and shifted through time.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Japan

See also: Prefectures of Japan

Japan is made up of many islands — 14,125 in total! About 430 of these islands have people living on them. The five biggest islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Honshu is the largest and is often called the Japanese mainland.

The islands are grouped in different ways. Some groups include Hokkaido, Honshu, and Shikoku with nearby islands. Another group is Kyushu and the Ryukyu arc, which includes the Ryukyu Islands and surrounding islands. There are also groups like the eastern part of Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands, as well as the Nanpō Islands and the Izu Peninsula which are part of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc.

The Nanpō Islands stretch out to the southeast and are managed by the Tokyo Metropolis.

The Ryukyu Islands stretch toward Taiwan and are managed by Kagoshima Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture.