List of islands of Japan
Japan is an archipelago of 14,125 islands, of which approximately 260 are inhabited.[1][2] Japan is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth largest in the island nations of the world.[3]
Japanese archipelago islands outlined
According to a survey conducted by the Japan Coast Guard in 1987, the number of islands in Japan was 6,852. At that time, the survey only counted islands with coastlines of 100 meters or more that were shown on paper maps. On February 28, 2023, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan announced that the number of islands had been updated to 14,125 through a recount using digital maps. Since there is no international standard for counting islands, only islands with a coastline of 100 meters or more were counted, as in the past. According to the GSI, advances in surveying technology and the detailed representation of topographic features through digital mapping contributed to this announcement.[4][1]
Japanese archipelago
Main islands
The four main islands of Japan are:[5][6]
- Hokkaido – the northernmost and second largest main island.
- Honshu – the largest and most populous island, with the capital Tokyo. Honshu is connected to the other three main islands by bridges and tunnels.
- Kyushu – the third largest main island, second most populous and the nearest to the Asian continent.
- Shikoku – the smallest main island, located between Honshu and Kyushu.
Hokkaido prefecture
Islands of Honshu in the Sea of Japan
Islands in Tokyo Bay
- Dream Island (Yume No Shima)
- Odaiba (artificial island)
- Sarushima (natural)
- Jonan Island
- Heiwa Island
- Showa Island
- Keihin Island
- Tokyo International Airport (artificial island)
- Katsushima
- Hakkeijima
- Higashi Ogijima
- Wakasu
- Oogishima
- Ukishima
Islands in Osaka Bay
- Maishima
- Yumeshima
- Sakishima
- Kansai International Airport (artificial island)
- Kobe Airport (artificial island)
- 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
Nanpō Islands (Nanpō Shotō)
Izu Islands
Ogasawara Islands
- Kazan Rettō (Volcano Islands)
- Nishinoshima
- Kita Iwo Jima (North Iwo Jima)
- Iwo Jima[15]
- 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.
Islands around Shikoku
Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shotō)
Ryukyu Islands
Satsunan Islands
The northern half is administratively part of Kagoshima Prefecture and Kyushu.
Tokara Islands
The Shichi-tō:
Ryukyu Islands (Ryūkyū-shotō)
The Southern Half, Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawa Islands
The Central Group or Ryukyu proper:
Sakishima Islands
Also known as the Further Isles:
- Miyako Islands
- Yaeyama Islands
- Senkaku Islands - controlled by Japan, disputed by China and Taiwan.
Seto Inland Sea islands
Seto Inland Sea
- 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[9]
- 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[8]
- New Kitakyushu Airport
- Midori No Shima, off Hakodate (artificial)
- Malimpia Okinosu (artificial)
- Wakaejima (artificial)
- Island City, Fukuoka (artificial)
Claims but does not control
Kuril islands and the Northern Territories
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.[18]
- 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 (1895–1952) - part of the Japanese colonial empire until its defeat in 1945. Returned to the Republic of China in 1945 but unrecognized by the Allies. All claims reliqunished by the Treaty of San Francisco signed in 1951.
- 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. Japan in addition controlled the northern half of Sakhalin between 1920 and 1925, during and after the Russian Civil War.
- Jeju Island (1910–1952) - part of Korea.
Largest islands of Japan
These are the 50 largest islands of Japan. It excludes the disputed Kuril islands known as the northern territories.
See also
References
- Kojo, Hirotaka (February 15, 2023). "Japan has more than 14,000 islands, digital mapping reveals". The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on February 21, 2023.
- McCurry, Justin (February 16, 2023). "Japan sees its number of islands double after recount". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023.
- "Island Countries Of The World". WorldAtlas.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
- "我が国の島を一定の条件のもと数えました。その結果、14,125島となりましたので、お知らせいたします。". Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. February 28, 2023. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023.
- "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.
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1962). Sovereign and Subject, p. 332.
- Ponsonby-Fane, p. 331.
- 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.
- 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.
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