Honshu

The island of Honshu would become the target of devastating air raids as part of the Pacific War of World War II. The first air raid that would strike the island and the Home Islands would be the Doolittle Raid. With the introduction of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the firebombing of Tokyo would culminate in Operation Meetinghouse, the most destructive air raid in human history, leading to 16 square miles (41 km²; 10,000 acres) of central Tokyo being destroyed, leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead, and over one million homeless.[13] The war would culminate in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima shortly before Japan's surrender and signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, on board USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay.

Honshu has a total population of 104 million people, according to a 2017 estimate, 81.3% of the entire population of Japan.[8] The largest city is Tokyo (population: 37,339,804),[16] the capital of Japan and part of the Greater Tokyo Area, the most populous metropolitan area in the world.

Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku by tunnels and bridges. Three bridge systems have been built across the islands of the Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku (Akashi Kaikyō Bridge and the Ōnaruto Bridge; Shin-Onomichi Bridge, Innoshima Bridge, Ikuchi Bridge, Tatara Bridge, Ōmishima Bridge, Hakata–Ōshima Bridge, and the Kurushima-Kaikyō Bridge; Shimotsui-Seto Bridge, Hitsuishijima Bridge, Iwakurojima Bridge, Yoshima Bridge, Kita Bisan-Seto Bridge, and the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge), the Seikan Tunnel connects Honshu with Hokkaidō, and the Kanmonkyo Bridge and Kanmon Tunnel connects Honshu with Kyūshū.

These are notable flora and fauna of Honshu.

Notable flora and fauna[17]

Name	Type	Notes
Japanese black bear	Fauna	A subspecies of the Asian Black Bear. It is typically herbivorous and lives in Honshu and Kyushu.
Japanese macaque	Fauna	(Macaca fuscata or snow monkey), is a terrestrial Old World monkey species that is native to Japan.
Japanese golden eagle	Fauna	(Aquila chrysaetos japonica), a subspecies of the Golden Eagle, inhabits Honshu and Hokkaido all year round.
Japanese wolf	Fauna	Aka Honshu Wolf is an extinct subspecies of the wolf.
Sika Deer	Fauna	Cervus nippon (Japanese deer), is overabundant in Honshu.
Japanese dwarf flying squirrel	Fauna	(Nihon momonga) is one of two species of Old World flying squirrels in the genus Pteromys.
Japanese raccoon dog	Fauna	(Nyctereutes viverrinus, also called tanuki), is a species of canid endemic to Japan.
Japanese giant salamander	Fauna	(Andrias japonicus) this fully aquatic salamander is endemic to Japan and called Ōsanshōuo (Giant Salamander)
Takydromus tachydromoides	Fauna	The Japanese grass lizard, is a wall lizard species of the genus Takydromus.
Japanese serow	Fauna	(kamoshika, lit. "coarse pelt deer"): (Capricornis crispus) is a Japanese goat-antelope found in dense woodland primarily in northern and central Honshu.
Japanese giant flying squirrel	Fauna	(musasabi, Petaurista leucogenys) is native to Japan where it inhabits sub-alpine forests and boreal evergreen forests on Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.
Japanese boar	Fauna	(Sus scrofa leucomystax, aka white-moustached pig, Nihon-inoshishi (ニホンイノシシ)), is a subspecies of wild boar native to all of Japan, save for Hokkaido and the Ryukyu Islands.
Japanese bush warbler	Fauna	(uguisu (鶯), is an Asian passerine bird more often heard than seen. It's a year-round resident of Japan (except Hokkaido where it is only in summer).
Sasakia charonda	Fauna	National butterfly of Japan (ō-murasaki, "great purple")
Copper pheasant	Fauna	(Syrmaticus soemmerringii) a large pheasant with a rich coppery chestnut plumage is endemic to Japan.
Green pheasant	Fauna	(Phasianus versicolor), aka Japanese green pheasant, is an omnivorous bird native to the Japanese archipelago, to which it is endemic.
Grey Heron	Fauna	(Ardea cinerea) Long legged wading bird.
Japanese scops owl	Fauna	(Otus semitorques) is a resident breeder in Japan and found in other countries in East Asia.
Doryrhamphus japonicus	Fauna	Doryrhamphus japonicus, or the Honshu pipefish, is a species of flagtail pipefish
Brahmaea japonica	Fauna	(Japanese owl moth) a species of moth of the Brahmaeidae family native to Japan.
Japanese spider crab	Fauna	(Macrocheira kaempferi) a marine crab with the largest leg-span of any arthropod. They live off the southern coasts of Honshū from Tokyo Bay to Kagoshima Prefecture.
Chum salmon	Fauna	(aka white salmon (白鮭 シロサケ) is native to middle and northern Honshu, Hokkaido and the North Pacific.
Silurus biwaensis	Fauna	The giant Lake Biwa catfish or Biwako-o'namazu, endemic to Lake Biwa.
Oncorhynchus kawamurae	Fauna	A species of landlocked Pacific trout in Japan. It's endemic to Lake Tazawa, Akita Prefecture, but was translocated to Lake Saiko.
Akita Inu	Fauna	(秋田犬, Akita-inu) is a historic dog breed of large size originating from the mountains in Akita Prefecture (northern Honshu).
Kai Ken	Fauna	The Kai Ken (甲斐犬) is a rare breed of dog native to Japan. It is originally from Kai Province in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Kishu	Fauna	Kishu Ken are a rare dog breed that was selectively bred for the hunting of wild boar and deer in the mountainous Mie prefecture and Wakayama prefecture.
Shiba Inu	Fauna	The Shiba Inu (柴犬, is an original and distinct spitz breed hunting dog, native to Japan.
Japanese rose	Flora	(Rosa rugos), a species of rose native to eastern Asia and Japan.
Hydrangea hirta	Flora	A species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae that is native to East Asia and common in the Pacific side of Honshu.
Tsuga sieboldii	Flora	(Tsuga sieboldii or simply tsuga (栂)), is a conifer native to the Japanese islands of Honshū, Kyūshū, Shikoku and Yakushima.

Being on the Ring of Fire, the island of Honshu is seismically active, and is home to 40 active volcanoes.

In 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0–9.1 occurred off the coast of Honshu, generating tsunami waves up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) high and killing 19,747. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.[18][19][20] The tsunami subsequently led to the meltdown of 3 nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, leading to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Fruit, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton make up the main produce grown in Honshu.[22] The Tohoku region, spanning the north-eastern part of the island, is notable for its rice production, with 65% of cultivated land being rice paddy fields – almost a quarter of all paddy fields in Japan.[23] Chiba Prefecture is famous for its peanuts, also being the largest producer in Japan.[24] Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu.[25]

Most of Japan's tea and silk is from Honshu.[22] Japan's three largest industrial regions are all located on Honshu: the Keihin region, the Hanshin Industrial Region, and the Chūkyō Industrial Area.

Honshu is home to a large portion[26] of Japan's minimal mineral reserves[27] along housing small deposits of oil and coal. Several coal deposits are also located in the northern part of the island,[28] concentrated in Fukushima Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture, though Honshu's coal production is negligible in comparison to Hokkaido and Kyushu.[29] Most of Japan's oil reserves are also located in northern Honshu, along the west coast, spanning Niigata, Yamagata and Akita Prefectures.[30]

In terms of mineral resources, Honshu houses the majority of Japan's copper, lead, zinc and chromite. Smaller deposits of gold, silver, arsenic, sulphur and pyrite are also scattered across the island.[31]