Japan Statistics - Page 2

Land and Resources

Japan's four main islands, which together constitute 98% of the total area, are Hokkaido, in the north; HONSHU, the largest and most populous, located in the center; and the southern islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. The two southern islands are separated from the main island of Honshu by the protected waters of the Inland Sea, which has been Japan's core for over 2,000 years. Also integral parts of Japan are more than 3,000 islands and islets, including Iki and Tsushima, located in the narrow Korea Strait; and Sado, located off the northwest coast of Honshu. Okinawa, one of the Ryukyu Islands, an island chain located southwest of Kyushu, was administered by the United States after World War II but was restored to Japan in 1972. Almost 600 km (375 mi) away in the Pacific Ocean are the Marcus, Bonin, and Volcano (including IWO JIMA) island groups, which were placed under U. S. administration after World War II and were returned to Japan in 1968. Japan disputes the claim by Russia to some of the Kuril Islands, which stretch northeastward from Hokkaido, and also the claim by Taiwan to the uninhabited Senkaku Islands located 344 km (213 mi.) southwest of Okinawa in an area of rich seafloor petroleum deposits.

The Japanese islands are part of a tectonically unstable zone of volcanic activity and continuing mountain building that rims the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Japan are actually the peaks of otherwise submerged mountain ranges. About 50 active volcanoes are known in Japan; every year about 1,500 minor earthquakes occur; and hot springs and other features of crustal instability are found. Mount Fuji, a dormant volcano and Japan's highest mountain, rises to 3,776 m (12,388 ft).

About 75% of Japan's land is mountainous and too steep for easy cultivation and settlement. The principal mountain ranges follow fault lines of great geologic complexity. Where two or more of these arcs intersect are knots of rugged mountains. One such node occurs in central Hokkaido (the Hokkaido Node), where the north-south arc from Sakhalin intersects a northeast-southwest trending arc that forms the Kuril Islands. A second mountain node (the Chubu Node) occurs in central Honshu and west of this is an east-west arc broken into two parallel faults between which the Inland Sea is located. The northern fault passes through western Honshu, and the southern fault is traceable through the Kii Peninsula of Honshu, the island of Shikoku and into Kyushu. A third (Kyushu) node is located in north-central Kyushu, from that runs the Ryukyu Archipelago to the southwest and the aforementioned arcs to the northeast. Faults also line the sides of the Fossa Magna, a great rift valley that cuts across the core of the Chubu Node from northwest to southeast. Lowlands constitute only about 16% of the islands and are generally small, discontinuous, and found mostly in coastal areas. The largest is the Kanto Plain, where Tokyo is located. Other major cities also grew up on lowlands: Nagoya on the Nobi Plain and Osaka and Kyoto on the lowlands of Kansai. Many small coastal plains surround the Inland Sea.