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{{Short description|Archipelago off the coast of Northeast Asia}}

factoids

| country = Japan| area_km2 = 377,975}}The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: , Nihon Rettō) is an archipelago of 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan.WEB, Recount with digital map leads to doubling of listed Japanese islands, Japan Times,www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/15/national/japanese-islands-recount/, Feb 15, 2023,archive.today/20230215042328/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/15/national/japanese-islands-recount/, Feb 15, 2023, It extends over {{cvt|3000|km|mi}}WEB, Water Supply in Japan, website,www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/health/water_supply/1.html,web.archive.org/web/20180126130519/https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/policy/health/water_supply/1.html, January 26, 2018, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2018-09-26, from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China and Philippine seas in the southwest along the Pacific coast of the Eurasian continent, and consists of three island arcs from north to south: the Northeastern Japan Arc, the Southwestern Japan Arc, and the Ryukyu Island Arc. The Daitō Islands, the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc, the Kuril Islands, and the Nanpō Islands neighbor the archipelago.Japan is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth-largest island country in the world with {{convert|377,975.24|km²|sqmi|abbr=on}}.WEB,www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-are-the-island-countries-of-the-world.html, Island Countries Of The World, WorldAtlas.com, 2019-08-10,www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-are-the-island-countries-of-the-world.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20171207094959www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-are-the-island-countries-of-the-world.html,">web.archive.org/web/20171207094959www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-are-the-island-countries-of-the-world.html, 2017-12-07, WEB, 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),www.gsi.go.jp/KOKUJYOHO/MENCHO201910-index.html, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, 2 January 2020, ja, 26 December 2019, 15 April 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200415123703/https://www.gsi.go.jp/KOKUJYOHO/MENCHO201910-index.html, live, It has an exclusive economic zone of {{convert|4,470,000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}.WEB,www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/JODC/ryokai/ryokai_setsuzoku.html, 日本の領海等概念図, 海上保安庁海洋情報部, 12 August 2018,www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/JODC/ryokai/ryokai_setsuzoku.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20180812151410www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/JODC/ryokai/ryokai_setsuzoku.html,">web.archive.org/web/20180812151410www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/JODC/ryokai/ryokai_setsuzoku.html, August 12, 2018,

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.WEB, ja:離島とは(島の基礎知識), what is a remote island?, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism,www.mlit.go.jp/crd/chirit/ritoutoha.html, MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), 22 August 2015, 9 August 2019, ja, website, MILT classification 6,852 islands(main islands: 5 islands, remote islands: 6,847 islands),www.mlit.go.jp/crd/chirit/ritoutoha.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20071113053915www.mlit.go.jp/crd/chirit/ritoutoha.html,">web.archive.org/web/20071113053915www.mlit.go.jp/crd/chirit/ritoutoha.html, 2007-11-13, 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 used at the end of World War II to define the area where Japanese sovereignty and constitutional rule of its emperor would be restricted.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} The term is also commonly used today to distinguish the archipelago from Japan’s colonies and other territories.Milton W. Meyer, Japan: A Concise History, fourth ed. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012, {{ISBN|9780742541184}}, p. 2 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226040610books.google.com/books?id=d11lJ2JKN4wC&pg=PA2&dq=Japan+archipelago+Home+Islands&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Wa_IUZGgFKSviALPqoG4DA&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Japan%20archipelago%20Home%20Islands&f=false |date=2023-02-26 }}.

Palaeogeography

{{Gallery|title=Changes of land-forms of Japan over time height=170|align=center|footer=|File:Sea of Japan Early Miocene map.svg {{legend|#fbad5d|Vegetated land}}{{legend|white|Unvegetated land}}{{legend|#acfefc|Ocean}}}}{{Clear}}

Geography

{{See also|Prefectures of Japan}}The archipelago consists of 14,125 islandsWEB, Recount with digital map leads to doubling of listed Japanese islands, Japan Times,www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/15/national/japanese-islands-recount/, Feb 15, 2023,archive.today/20230215042328/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/15/national/japanese-islands-recount/, Feb 15, 2023, (here defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), of which 430 are inhabited.MAGAZINE, Islands in Abundance, Look Japan, 1997, 43, 493–504, Limited,books.google.com/books?id=NHi6AAAAIAAJ&q=%226%2C852+islands%22, 35, 2015-10-18, 2023-02-26,web.archive.org/web/20230226040609/https://books.google.com/books?id=NHi6AAAAIAAJ&q=%226%2C852+islands%22, live, The five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Honshu is the largest and referred to as the Japanese mainland.“Japanese Archipelago” {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919195043www.thefreedictionary.com/Japanese+Archipelago |date=2018-09-19 }}, TheFreeDictionary.com, retrieved 24 June 2013.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

{{Gallery|title= height=170|align=center|footer=|File:Ogasawara islands.png

See also

• Japan in the Paleolithic
• List of extreme points of Japan
• List of islands of Japan

References

{{reflist}}{{Japan topics}}{{Authority control}}