Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands, of which approximately 260 are inhabited.[1][2] Japan is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth largest in the world.[3]
Main islands
The four main islands of Japan are:[4][5]
- Hokkaido - the northernmost and second largest main island.
- Honshu - the largest and most populous island with the capital Tokyo.
- Kyushu - the third largest main island and nearest to the Asian continent.
- Shikoku - the smallest main island, it is between Honshu and Kyushu.
Hokkaido prefecture
Islands of Honshu in the Sea of Japan
- Awashima Island, Niigata
- Kanmurijima
- Kutsujima, Kyoto
- Mitsukejima
- Nanatsujima archipelago
- Notojima
- Oki Islands (Oki Islands)[7]
- Oomijima
- Sado[8]
- Takashima, Shimane
- Tobishima (Yamagata)
- Tsunoshima
- Umashima, Shimane
Islands in Tokyo Bay
- Dream Island (Yume No Shima)
- Odaiba
- Sarushima (natural)
- Jonan Island
- Heiwa Island
- Showa Island
- Keihin Island
- Tokyo International Airport
- Katsushima
- Hakkeijima
- Higashi Ogijima
- Wakasu
- Oogishima
Islands in Osaka Bay
- Maishima
- Yumeshima
- Sakishima
- Kansai International Airport
- Kobe Airport
- Port Island
- Rokkō Island
- Minami Ashiyahama
- Wakayama Marina City
- Nishinomiyahama
Islands in Ise Bay
- Chūbu Centrair International Airport (artificial island)
- Kami-shima
- Kashiko Island
- Kozukumi Island
- Mikimoto Pearl Island
Islands in Mutsu Bay
Nanpō Islands (Nanpō Shotō)
- Kazan Rettō (Volcano Islands)
- Nishinoshima
- Kita Iwo Jima (North Iwo Jima)
- Iwo Jima[14]
- Minami Iwo Jima (South Iwo Jima)
Other Japanese islands
- Minami Torishima (Marcus Island)
- Enoshima
- Okino Torishima (Parece Vela)
Islands around Kyushu
Most of these are located in the East China Sea.
- Amakusa
- Nagashima Island, Kagoshima
- Aoshima
- Gotō Islands[8]
- Danjo Islands
- Hizentorishima
- Hashima[15]
- Hirado[7]
- Iki
- Koshikijima Islands
- Tsushima[8]
- Ukushima
Islands around Shikoku
Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shotō)
Satsunan Islands
The northern half is administratively part of Kagoshima Prefecture and Kyushu.
Ōsumi Islands
The North-Eastern Group:
The North-Western Group:
Tokara Islands
The Shichi-tō:
- Kuchinoshima
- Nakanoshima (Kagoshima)
- Gajajima
- Suwanosejima
- Akusekijima
- Tairajima
- Kodakarajima
- Takarajima
Amami Islands
Ryukyu Islands (Ryūkyū-shotō)
The Southern Half, Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawa Islands
The Central Group or Ryukyu proper:
- Okinawa Island[7]
- Kumejima
- Iheyajima
- Izenajima
- Agunijima
- Iejima
- Io-Torishima (Iōtorishima)[16]
- Kerama Islands
- Daitō Islands
Sakishima Islands
Also known as the Further Isles:
Seto Inland Sea islands
- Kasaoka Islands
- Takashima Island (Okayama) 高島 (岡山県笠岡市)
- Shiraishi Island
- Kitagi Island, 北木島
- Obishi Island, 大飛島
- Kobi Island, 小飛島
- Manabeshima, 真鍋島
- Mushima Island (Okayama), 六島 (岡山県)
- Shiwaku Islands
- Awaji[8]
- Etajima
- Kurahashi-jima
- Inujima
- Itsukushima (popularly known as "Miyajima")
- Shōdoshima
- Naoshima Islands
- Suō-Ōshima, Yamaguchi
- Himeshima, Ōita
- Aoshima, Ehime
- Hashira Island
- Okamura Island
- Ōshima (Ehime)
- Mukaishima Island, Hiroshima
- Ōmishima Island, Ehime
- Ōkunoshima (often called "Rabbit Island")
Islands in lakes
- Daikon-island
- Bentenjima in Lake Tōya
- Bentenjima in Lake Hamana
Other artificial islands
- Chūbu Centrair International Airport
- Dejima[7]
- New Kitakyushu Airport
- Midori No Shima , off Hakodate (artificial)
- Malimpia Okinosu (artificial)
- Wakaejima (artificial)
- Island City, Fukuoka (artificial)
Claims but does not control
The Northern Territories
There are four disputed Kuril Islands that are controlled by Russia and claimed by Japan. These islands are called the Chishima Islands.[17]
- Iturup - Etorofu (択捉島, Etorofu-tō)
- Kunashir - Kunashiri (国後島, Kunashiri-tō)
- Shikotan - Shikotan (色丹島, Shikotan-tō)
- Habomai Islands - Habomai (歯舞群島, Habomai-guntō)
Others
- Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takeshima) - controlled by South Korea, disputed by Japan and North Korea.
Former
- South Seas Mandate (1919–1947) - part of the Japanese colonial empire until its defeat in 1945. Formally revoked by the United Nations in 1947. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands later became a U.S. territory.
- Taiwan and Penghu (1895–1945) - part of the Japanese colonial empire until its defeat in 1945. Returned to the Republic of China in 1945.
- Karafuto (1905–1949) - the southern half of the island of Sakhalin, controlled by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War. Japan lost control of Karafuto after its invasion by the Soviet Union during World War II. Formally abolished as a legal entity by Japan in 1949.
Largest islands of Japan
These are the 50 largest islands of Japan. It excludes the disputed Kuril islands known as the northern territories.
Rank | Island name | Area (km2) |
Area (sq mi) |
Island group |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Honshu | 227,960 | 88,020 | |
2 | Hokkaido | 83,424.31 | 32,210.31 | |
3 | Kyushu | 36,782 | 14,202 | |
4 | Shikoku | 18,800 | 7,300 | |
5 | Okinawa Island | 1,207 | 466 | Ryukyu Islands |
6 | Sado Island | 855.26 | 330.22 | |
7 | Amami Ōshima | 712.35 | 275.04 | Amami Islands |
8 | Tsushima Island | 708.7 | 273.6 | |
9 | Awaji Island | 592.17 | 228.64 | Seto Inland Sea islands |
10 | Shimoshima Island, Amakusa | 574.01 | 221.63 | |
11 | Yakushima | 504.88 | 194.94 | Ōsumi Islands |
12 | Tanegashima | 444.99 | 171.81 | Ōsumi Islands |
13 | Fukue Island | 326.43 | 126.04 | Gotō Islands |
14 | Iriomote Island | 289.27 | 111.69 | |
15 | Tokunoshima | 247.8 | 95.7 | Amami Islands |
16 | Dōgojima | 241.58 | 93.27 | Oki Islands |
17 | Kamishima Island, Amakusa | 225.32 | 87.00 | Amakusa islands |
18 | Ishigaki Island | 222.5 | 85.9 | |
19 | Rishiri Island | 183 | 71 | |
20 | Nakadōri Island | 168.34 | 65.00 | Gotō Islands |
21 | Hirado Island | 163.42 | 63.10 | |
22 | Miyako-jima | 158.87 | 61.34 | |
23 | Shōdoshima | 153.30 | 59.19 | |
24 | Okushiri Island | 142.97 | 55.20 | |
25 | Iki Island | 138.46 | 53.46 | |
26 | Suō-Ōshima | 128.31 | 49.54 | |
27 | Okinoerabujima | 93.63 | 36.15 | Amami Islands |
28 | Etajima | 91.32 | 35.26 | |
29 | Izu Ōshima | 91.06 | 35.16 | Izu Islands |
30 | Nagashima Island, Kagoshima | 90.62 | 34.99 | |
31 | Rebun Island | 80 | 31 | |
32 | Kakeromajima | 77.39 | 29.88 | Amami Islands |
33 | Kurahashi-jima | 69.46 | 26.82 | |
34 | Shimokoshiki-jima | 66.12 | 25.53 | |
35 | Ōmishima Island, Ehime | 66.12 | 25.53 | |
36 | Hachijō-jima | 62.52 | 24.14 | |
37 | Kume Island | 59.11 | 22.82 | Okinawa Islands |
38 | Kikaijima | 56.93 | 21.98 | Amami Islands |
39 | Nishinoshima | 55.98 | 21.61 | |
40 | Miyake-jima | 55.44 | 21.41 | |
41 | Notojima | 46.78 | 18.06 | |
42 | Kamikoshiki-jima | 45.08 | 17.41 | |
43 | Ōshima (Ehime) | 41.87 | 16.17 | |
44 | Ōsakikamijima | 38.27 | 14.78 | |
45 | Kuchinoerabu-jima | 38.04 | 14.69 | |
46 | Hisaka | 37.23 | 14.37 | |
47 | Innoshima | 35.03 | 13.53 | |
48 | Nakanoshima (in Kagoshima) | 34.47 | 13.31 | Tokara Islands |
49 | Hario Island | 33.16 | 12.80 | |
50 | Nakanoshima (in Shimane) | 32.21 | 12.44 | Oki Islands |
See also
- Geography of Japan
- Japanese archipelago
- List of islands of Japan by area
- List of islands
- Names of Japan
References
- ^ Look Japan, Vol. 43, Issues 493-504, p. 35; retrieved 2013-3-2.
- ^ "離島とは(島の基礎知識)" (in Japanese). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original (website) on November 13, 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ^ "Island Countries Of The World". WorldAtlas.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
- ^ "離島とは(島の基礎知識) (what is a remote island?)". MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) (in Japanese). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 22 August 2015. Archived from the original (website) on 2007-11-13. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
MILT classification 6,852 islands(main islands: 5 islands, remote islands: 6,847 islands)
- ^ Imperial Japanese Commission to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. (1903). Japan in the Beginning of the 20th century (Haruki Yamawaki, editor), p. 2.
- ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Rishiri-tō" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 791.
- ^ a b c d Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1962). Sovereign and Subject, p. 332.
- ^ a b c d e Ponsonby-Fane, p. 331.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Nussbaum, "Izu Shotō" at p. 412.
- ^ Gotoh, H. et al. (2010). "Infrastructure Maintenance and Disaster Prevention Measures on Isolated Islands: the Case of the Izu Islands near Tokyo" in Island Sustainability (Favro, S., editor), p. 187.
- ^ Nussbaum, p. 412; Ponsonby-Fane, p. 332.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Ōshima" at p. 761.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Torishima" at p. 987.
- ^ a b c d Nussbaum, "Ogasawara Guntō" at p. 737.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Hashima" at p. 294.
- ^ "Io-Torishima". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ Imperial Japanese Commission, p. 3.