Geography of Japan
Template:Short description Template:Infobox country geography
Japan is an archipelagic country comprising a stratovolcanic archipelago over Template:Convert along the Pacific coast of East Asia.<ref name="water-supply">Template:Cite web</ref> It consists of 14,125 islands.<ref name="recount"/><ref name="離島">Template:Cite web</ref> The four main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. The other 14,120 islands are classified as "remote islands" by the Japanese government.<ref name="recount" /><ref name="main-islands-japan">Template:Cite web</ref> The Ryukyu Islands and Nanpō Islands are south and east of the main islands.
The territory covers Template:Convert.<ref name="Geospatial Information Authority of Japan 2022"/> It is the fourth-largest island country in the world and the largest island country in East Asia.<ref name="world-atlas">Template:Cite web</ref> The country has the 6th longest coastline at Template:Convert and the 8th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of Template:Convert in the world.<ref name="kaiho">Template:Cite web</ref>
The terrain is mostly rugged and mountainous, with 66% forest.<ref name="worldbank"/> The population is clustered in urban areas along the coast, plains, and valleys.<ref name="autogenerated1">Template:Cite web</ref> Japan is located in the northwestern Ring of Fire on multiple tectonic plates.<ref name="Barnes"/> East of the Japanese archipelago are three oceanic trenches. The Japan Trench is created as the oceanic Pacific Plate subducts beneath the continental Okhotsk Plate.<ref name="revel">Template:Cite journal</ref> The continuous subduction process causes frequent earthquakes, tsunamis, and stratovolcanoes.<ref name="volcanoes-japan"/> The islands are also affected by typhoons. The subduction plates have pulled the Japanese archipelago eastward, created the Sea of Japan, and separated it from the Asian continent by back-arc spreading 15 million years ago.<ref name="Barnes"/>
The climate varies from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical and tropical rainforests in the south. These differences in climate and landscape have allowed the development of a diverse flora and fauna, with some rare endemic species, especially in the Ogasawara Islands.
Japan extends from 20° to 45° north latitude (Okinotorishima to Benten-jima) and from 122° to 153° east longitude (Yonaguni to Minami Torishima).<ref name="geohack"/> Japan is surrounded by seas. To the north, the Sea of Okhotsk separates it from the Russian Far East; to the west, the Sea of Japan separates it from the Korean Peninsula; to the southwest, the East China Sea separates the Ryukyu Islands from China and Taiwan; to the east is the Pacific Ocean.
The Japanese archipelago is over Template:Convert long in a north-to-southwardly direction from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean.<ref name="water-supply"/> It is narrow, and no point in Japan is more than Template:Convert from the sea. In 2023, a government recount of the islands with digital maps increased the total from 6,852 to 14,125 islands.<ref name="recount">Template:Cite web</ref> The five main islands are (from north to south) Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Three of the four major islands (Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku) are separated by narrow straits of the Seto Inland Sea and form a natural entity. The 6,847 smaller islands are called remote islands.<ref name="離島"/><ref name="main-islands-japan"/> This includes the Bonin Islands, Daitō Islands, Minami-Tori-shima, Okinotorishima, the Ryukyu Islands, the Volcano Islands, Nansei Islands, and the Nanpō Islands, as well as numerous islets, of which 430 are inhabited. The Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan but disputed by China. This excludes the disputed Northern Territories (Kuril Islands) and Liancourt Rocks. In total, as of 2021, Japan's territory is Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert is water.<ref name="Geospatial Information Authority of Japan 2022"/> Japan has the sixth longest coastline in the world (Template:Convert). It is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth largest island country in the world.<ref name="world-atlas"/>
Because of Japan's many far-flung outlying islands and long coastline, the country has extensive marine life and mineral resources in the ocean. The Exclusive Economic Zone of Japan covers Template:Convert and is the 8th largest in the world. It is more than 11 times the land area of the country.<ref name="kaiho"/> The Exclusive Economic Zone stretches from the baseline out to Template:Convert from its coast. Its territorial sea is Template:Convert, but between Template:Convert in the international straits—La Pérouse (or Sōya Strait), Tsugaru Strait, Ōsumi, and Tsushima Strait.
Japan has a population of 126 million in 2019.<ref name="SBJ-Population-June-2019"/> It is the 11th most populous country in the world and the second most populous island country.<ref name="world-atlas"/> 81% of the population lives on Honshu, 10% on Kyushu, 4.2% on Hokkaido, 3% on Shikoku, 1.1% in Okinawa Prefecture, and 0.7% on other Japanese islands such as the Nanpō Islands.
Map of Japan
[edit]
Template:Main Japan is formally divided into eight regions, from northeast (Hokkaidō) to southwest (Ryukyu Islands):<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Hokkaido
- Tōhoku region
- Kantō region
- Chūbu region
- Kansai (or Kinki) region
- Chūgoku region
- Shikoku
- Kyūshū
Each region contains several prefectures, except the Hokkaido region, which comprises only Hokkaido Prefecture.
The regions are not official administrative units but have been traditionally used as the regional division of Japan in a number of contexts. For example, maps and geography textbooks divide Japan into the eight regions; weather reports usually give the weather by region; and many businesses and institutions use their home region as part of their name (Kinki Nippon Railway, Chūgoku Bank, Tohoku University, etc.). While Japan has eight High Courts, their jurisdictions do not correspond with the eight regions.
Composition, topography and geography
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About 73% of Japan is mountainous,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with a mountain range running through each of the main islands. Japan's highest mountain is Mount Fuji, with an elevation of Template:Convert. Japan's forest cover rate is 68.55% since the mountains are heavily forested. The only other developed nations with such a high forest cover percentage are Finland and Sweden.<ref name="worldbank">Template:Cite web</ref>
Since there is little level ground, many hills and mountainsides at lower elevations around towns and cities are often cultivated. As Japan is situated in a volcanic zone along the Pacific deeps, frequent low-intensity earth tremors and occasional volcanic activity are felt throughout the islands. Destructive earthquakes occur several times a century. Hot springs are numerous and have been exploited by the leisure industry.
The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan measures Japan's territory annually in order to continuously grasp the state of the national land. As of July 1, 2021, Japan's territory is Template:Convert. It increases in area due to volcanic eruptions such as Nishinoshima (西之島), the natural expansion of the islands, and land reclamation.<ref name="Geospatial Information Authority of Japan 2022">Template:Cite web</ref>
This table shows land use in 2002.<ref name="mlit-2011">Template:Cite web</ref>
| Forest | Agricultural land | Residential area | Water surface, rivers, waterways | Roads | Wilderness | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66.4% | 12.8% | 4.8% | 3.6% | 3.4% | 0.7% | 8.3% |
| Template:Convert | Template:Convert | Template:Convert | Template:Convert | Template:Convert | Template:Convert | Template:Convert |
Location
[edit]The Japanese archipelago is relatively far away from the Asian continent. Kyushu is closest to the southernmost point of the Korean peninsula, with a distance of Template:Convert, which is almost six times farther away than from England to France across the English Channel. Thus, historically, Kyushu was the gateway between Asia and Japan. China is separated by Template:Convert of sea from Japan's big main islands. Hokkaido is near Sakhalin, which was occupied by Japan from 1905 to 1945. Most of the population lives on the Pacific coast of Honshū. The west coast facing the Sea of Japan is less densely populated.<ref name="jpn-places"/>
The Japanese archipelago has been difficult to reach since ancient history. During the Paleolithic period around 20,000 BCE, at the height of the Last Glacial Maximum, there was a land bridge between Hokkaido and Sakhalin that linked Japan with the Asian continent. The land bridge disappeared when sea levels rose in the Jōmon period around 10,000 BCE.<ref name=Japan>Template:Cite book</ref>
Japan's remote location, surrounded by vast seas, rugged, mountainous terrain, and steep rivers, makes it secure against invaders and uncontrolled migration from the Asian continent. The Japanese can close their civilization with an isolationist foreign policy. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa Shogunate enforced the Sakoku policy, which prohibited most foreign contact and trade from 1641 to 1853.<ref>Ronald P. Toby, State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, (1984) 1991.</ref> In modern times, the inflow of people is managed via seaports and airports. Thus, Japan is fairly insulated from continental issues.
Throughout history, Japan has never been fully invaded or colonized by other countries. The Mongols tried to invade Japan twice and failed in 1274 and 1281. Japan capitulated only once after nuclear attacks in World War II. At the time, Japan did not have nuclear technology. The insular geography is a major factor in the isolationist, semi-open, and expansionist periods of Japanese history.
Mountains and volcanoes
[edit]The mountainous islands of the Japanese archipelago form a crescent off the eastern coast of Asia.<ref name=loc>Template:Citation-attribution</ref> They are separated from the continent by the Sea of Japan, which serves as a protective barrier. Japan has 108 active volcanoes (10% of the world's active volcanoes) because of active plate tectonics in the Ring of Fire.<ref name="volcanoes-japan"/>
Around 15 million years ago, the volcanic shoreline of the Asian continent was pushed out into a series of volcanic island arcs.<ref name="Barnes"/> This created the "back-arc basins" known as the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk with the formal shaping of the Japanese archipelago.<ref name="Barnes"/> The archipelago also has summits on mountain ridges that were uplifted near the outer edge of the continental shelf.<ref name=loc/> About 73 percent of Japan's area is mountainous, and scattered plains and intermontane basins (in which the population is concentrated) cover only about 27 percent.<ref name=loc/> A long chain of mountains runs down the middle of the archipelago, dividing it into two halves: the "face", facing the Pacific Ocean, and the "back", toward the Sea of Japan.<ref name=loc/> On the Pacific side are steep mountains 1,500 to 3,000 meters high, with deep valleys and gorges.<ref name=loc/>
Central Japan is marked by the convergence of the three mountain chains—the Hida, Kiso, and Akaishi mountains—that form the Japanese Alps (Nihon Arupusu), several of whose peaks are higher than Template:Convert.<ref name=loc/> The highest point in the Japanese Alps is Mount Kita at Template:Convert.<ref name=loc/> The highest point in the country is Mount Fuji (Fujisan, also erroneously called Fujiyama), a volcano dormant since 1707 that rises to Template:Convert above sea level in Shizuoka Prefecture.<ref name=loc/> On the Sea of Japan side are plateaus and low mountain districts, with altitudes of 500 to 1,500 meters.<ref name=loc/>
Plains
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There are three major plains in central Honshū. The largest is the Kantō Plain, which covers Template:Convert in the Kantō region. The capital Tokyo and the largest metropolitan population are located there. The second largest plain in Honshū is the Nōbi Plain (Template:Convert), with the third-most-populous urban area being Nagoya. The third-largest plain in Honshū is the Osaka Plain, which covers Template:Convert in the Kinki region. It features the second-largest urban area of Osaka (part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area). Osaka and Nagoya extend inland from their bays until they reach steep mountains. The Osaka Plain is connected with Kyoto and Nara. Kyoto is located in the Yamashiro Basin (Template:Convert) and Nara is in the Nara Basin (Template:Convert).
The Kantō Plain, Osaka Plain, and Nōbi Plain are the most important economic, political, and cultural areas of Japan. These plains had the largest agricultural production and large bays with ports for fishing and trade. This made them the largest population centers. Kyoto and Nara are the ancient capitals and cultural heart of Japan. The Kantō Plain became Japan's center of power because it is the largest plain with a central location, and historically, it had the most agricultural production that could be taxed. The Tokugawa Shogunate established a bakufu in Edo in 1603.<ref>Gordon, Andrew. (2003). A Modern History of Japan from Tokugawa Times to the Present, p. 23.</ref> This evolved into the capital of Tokyo by 1868.
Hokkaido has multiple plains, such as the Ishikari Plain (Template:Convert), Tokachi Plain (Template:Convert), the Kushiro Plain, the largest wetland in Japan (Template:Convert), and the Sarobetsu Plain (Template:Convert). There are many farms that produce a plethora of agricultural products. The average farm size in Hokkaido was 26 hectares per farmer in 2013. That is nearly 11 times larger than the national average of 2.4 hectares. This made Hokkaido the most agriculturally rich prefecture in Japan.<ref name="Agriculture Hokkaido">Template:Cite news</ref> Nearly one-fourth of Japan's arable land and 22% of Japan's forests are in Hokkaido.<ref name="business-env">Template:Cite web</ref>
Another important plain is the Sendai Plain around the city of Sendai in northeastern Honshū.<ref name=loc/> Many of these plains are along the coast, and their areas have been increased by land reclamation throughout recorded history.<ref name=loc/>
Rivers
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Rivers are generally steep and swift, and few are suitable for navigation except in their lower reaches. Although most rivers are less than Template:Convert in length, their rapid flow from the mountains is what provides hydroelectric power.<ref name=loc/> Seasonal variations in flow have led to the extensive development of flood control measures.<ref name=loc/> The longest, the Shinano River, which winds through Nagano Prefecture to Niigata Prefecture and flows into the Sea of Japan, is Template:Convert long.<ref name=loc/><ref name="longest-rivers"/>
These are the 10 longest rivers of Japan.<ref name="longest-rivers">Template:Cite web</ref>
| Rank | Name | Region | Prefecture | Length
(km) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shinano | Hokuriku | Nagano, Niigata | 367 |
| 2 | Tone | Kantō | Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma | 322 |
| 3 | Ishikari | Hokkaido | Hokkaido | 268 |
| 4 | Teshio | Hokkaido | Hokkaido | 256 |
| 5 | Kitakami | Tōhoku | Iwate, Miyagi | 249 |
| 6 | Abukuma | Tōhoku | Fukushima, Miyagi | 239 |
| 7 | Mogami | Tōhoku | Yamagata | 229 |
| 8 | Tenryu | Chūbu | Nagano, Aichi, Shizuoka | 212 |
| 9 | Agano | Hokuriku | Niigata | 210 |
| 10 | Shimanto | Shikoku | Kōchi | 196 |
Lakes and coasts
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The largest freshwater lake is Lake Biwa (Template:Convert), northeast of Kyoto in Shiga Prefecture.<ref name=Tabata2016>Template:Cite journal</ref> Lake Biwa is an ancient lake and is estimated to be the 13th oldest lake in the world, dating to at least 4 million years ago.<ref name="marine-rutgers">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Tabata2016/> It has consistently carried water for millions of years. Lake Biwa was created by plate tectonics in an active rift zone. This created a very deep lake with a maximum depth of Template:Convert. Thus, it is not naturally filled with sediment. Over the course of millions of years, a diverse ecosystem evolved in the lake. It has more than 1,000 species and subspecies. There are 46 native fish species and subspecies,<ref name=fish>Kawanabe, H.; Nishino, M.; and Maehata, M., editors (2012). Lake Biwa: Interactions between Nature and People. pp 119-120. Template:ISBN</ref> including 11 species and 5 subspecies that are endemic or near-endemic.<ref name=Tabata2016/> Approximately 5,000 water birds visit the lake each year.
The following are the 10 largest lakes of Japan.<ref name="GSI-20172">国土地理院 平成29年全国都道府県市区町村別面積調 付1 湖沼面積（平成29年10月1日版） Template:Webarchive 2018年2月10日閲覧。</ref>
Extensive coastal shipping, especially around the Seto Inland Sea, compensates for the lack of navigable rivers.<ref name=loc/> The Pacific coastline south of Tokyo is characterized by long, narrow, gradually shallowing inlets produced by sedimentation, which has created many natural harbors.<ref name=loc/> The Pacific coastline north of Tokyo, the coast of Hokkaido, and the Sea of Japan coast are generally unindented, with few natural harbors.<ref name=loc/>
A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 765 km2 of tidal flats in Japan, making it the 35th-ranked country in terms of tidal flat extent.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Land reclamation
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The Japanese archipelago has been transformed by humans into a sort of continuous land, in which the four main islands are entirely reachable and passable by rail and road transportation thanks to the construction of huge bridges and tunnels that connect each other and various islands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Approximately 0.5% of Japan's total area is reclaimed land (umetatechi).<ref name="reclaimed-land"/> It began in the 12th century.<ref name="reclaimed-land"/> Land was reclaimed from the sea and from river deltas by building dikes, drainage, and rice paddies on terraces carved into mountainsides.<ref name=loc/> The majority of land reclamation projects occurred after World War II, during the Japanese economic miracle. Reclamation of 80% to 90% of all the tidal flatland was done. Large land reclamation projects with landfills were done in coastal areas for maritime and industrial factories, such as Higashi Ogishima in Kawasaki, Osaka Bay, and Nagasaki Airport. Port Island, Rokkō Island, and Kobe Airport were built in Kobe. Late 20th and early 21st century projects include artificial islands such as Chubu Centrair International Airport in Ise Bay, Kansai International Airport in the middle of Osaka Bay, Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, and Wakayama Marina City.<ref name="reclaimed-land">Template:Cite web</ref> The village of Ōgata in Akita was established on land reclaimed from Lake Hachirōgata (Japan's second largest lake at the time) starting in 1957. By 1977, the amount of land reclaimed totaled Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Examples of land reclamation in Japan include:
- Kyogashima, Kobe – the first human-made island built by Taira no Kiyomori in 1173<ref name="reclaimed-land"/>
- The Hibiya Inlet, Tokyo – the first large-scale reclamation project started in 1592<ref name="reclaimed-land"/>
- Dejima, Nagasaki – built during Japan's national isolation period in 1634. It was the sole trading post in Japan during the Sakoku period and was originally inhabited by Portuguese and then Dutch traders.<ref name="reclaimed-land"/>
- Tokyo Bay, Japan – Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> artificial island (2007)
- This includes the entirety of Odaiba, a series of island forts constructed to protect Tokyo from sea attacks (1853).<ref name="reclaimed-land"/>
- Kobe, Japan – Template:Convert (1995).<ref name="reclaimed-land"/>
- Isahaya Bay in the Ariake Sea – approximately Template:Convert is reclaimed with tide embankment and sluice gates (2018).
- Yumeshima, Osaka – Template:Convert artificial island (2025)
- Central Breakwater – Template:Convert
Much reclaimed land is made up of landfill waste materials, dredged earth, sand, sediment, sludge, and soil removed from construction sites. It is used to build human-made islands in harbors and embankments in inland areas.<ref name="reclaimed-land"/> On November 8, 2011, Tokyo City began accepting rubble and waste from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami region. This rubble was processed, and when it had the appropriate radiation levels, it was used as a landfill to build new artificial islands in Tokyo Bay. Yamashita Park in Yokohama City was made with rubble from the great Kantō earthquake in 1923.<ref name="reclaimed-land"/>
There is a risk of contamination on artificial islands with landfills and reclaimed land if there was industry that spilled toxic chemicals into the ground. For example, the artificial island of Toyosu was once occupied by a Tokyo gas factory. Toxic substances were discovered in the soil and groundwater at Toyosu. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government spent an additional 3.8 billion yen ($33.5 million) to pump out groundwater by digging hundreds of wells.<ref name="historic-tsukiji">Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2017, plans to move the Tsukiji fish market were restarted<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but delayed from July to the autumn of 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the new site was declared safe following a cleanup operation, Toyosu Market was opened.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Oceanography and seabed of Japan
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Japan's sea territory is Template:Convert.<ref name="kaiho"/> Japan ranks fourth with its exclusive economic zone ocean water volume from 0 to Template:Convert depth. Japan ranks fifth with a sea volume of 2,000–3,000 meters, fourth with 3,000–4,000 meters, third with 4,000–5,000 meters, and first with a volume of 5,000 to over 6,000 meters. The relief map of the Japanese archipelago shows that 50% of Japan's sea territory has an ocean volume between 0 and Template:Convert deep. The other 50% has a depth of Template:Convert to over Template:Convert. 19% has a depth of 0 to Template:Convert. Thus, Japan possesses one of the largest ocean territories with a combination of all depths, from shallow to very deep.<ref name="japan-seabed">Template:Cite web</ref> Multiple long undersea mountain ranges stretch from Japan's main islands to the south. They occasionally reach above the sea surface as islands. East of the undersea mountain ranges are three oceanic trenches: the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench (max depth Template:Convert), Japan Trench (max depth Template:Convert), and Izu–Ogasawara Trench (max depth Template:Convert).
There are large quantities of marine life and mineral resources in the ocean and seabed of Japan. At a depth of over Template:Convert, there are minerals such as manganese nodules, cobalt in the crust, and hydrothermal deposits. Within the island straits remarkable subaqueous dunes are present on the shelf.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Geology
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Tectonic plates
[edit]The Japanese archipelago is the result of subducting tectonic plates over several 100 million years, from the mid-Silurian (443.8 Mya) to the Pleistocene (11,700 years ago). Approximately Template:Convert of oceanic floor has passed under the Japanese archipelago in the last 450 million years, with most being fully subducted. It is considered a mature island arc.
The islands of Japan were created by tectonic plate movements:
- Tohoku (upper half of Honshu), Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin are located on the Okhotsk Plate. This is a minor tectonic plate bounded to the north by the North American Plate.<ref>Seno et al., 1996 Journal of Geophysical Research; https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/96JB00532Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Apel et al., 2006 Geophysical Research Letters; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1029/2006GL026077/full</ref> The Okhotsk Plate is bounded on the east by the Pacific Plate at the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench and the Japan Trench. It is bounded on the south by the Philippine Sea Plate at the Nankai Trough. On the west, it is bound by the Eurasian Plate, and possibly on the southwest, by the Amurian Plate. The northeastern boundary is the Ulakhan Fault.<ref>http://www.stephan-mueller-spec-publ-ser.net/4/147/2009/smsps-4-147-2009.pdf Template:Webarchive Template:Bare URL PDF</ref>
- The southern half of Honshu, Shikoku, and most of Kyushu are located on the Amurian Plate.
- The southern tip of Kyushu and the Ryukyu islands are located on the Okinawa Plate.
- The Nanpō Islands are on the Philippine Sea Plate.
The Pacific Plate and Philippine Sea Plate are subduction plates. They are deeper than the Eurasian plate. The Philippine Sea Plate moves beneath the continental Amurian Plate and the Okinawa Plate to the south. The Pacific Plate moves under the Okhotsk Plate to the north. These subduction plates pulled Japan eastward and opened the Sea of Japan by back-arc spreading around 15 million years ago.<ref name="Barnes">Template:Cite web</ref> The Strait of Tartary and the Korea Strait opened much later. La Pérouse Strait formed about 60,000 to 11,000 years ago, closing the path used by mammoths, which had earlier moved to northern Hokkaido.<ref name="brit" /> The eastern margin of the Sea of Japan is an incipient subduction zone consisting of thrust faults that formed from the compression and reactivation of old faults involved in earlier rifting.<ref name="Tamaki85">Template:Cite journal</ref>
The subduction zone is where the oceanic crust slides beneath the continental crust or other oceanic plates. This is because the oceanic plate's litosphere has a higher density. Subduction zones are sites that usually have a high rate of volcanism and earthquakes.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Additionally, subduction zones develop belts of deformation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The subduction zones on the east side of the Japanese archipelago cause frequent low-intensity earth tremors. Major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis occur several times per century. It is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.<ref name="Barnes" /> Northeastern Japan, north of the Tanakura fault, had high volcanic activity 14–17 million years before the present.<ref name="atlas">Template:Cite web</ref>
Median Tectonic Line
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The Japan Median Tectonic Line (MTL) is Japan's longest fault system.<ref name="d">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="n">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The MTL begins near Ibaraki Prefecture, where it connects with the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line (ISTL) and the Fossa Magna. It runs parallel to Japan's volcanic arc, passing through central Honshū to near Nagoya, through Mikawa Bay, then through the Seto Inland Sea from the Kii Channel and Naruto Strait to Shikoku along the Sadamisaki Peninsula and the Bungo Channel and Hōyo Strait to Kyūshū.<ref name="n" />
The MTL moves right-lateral strike-slip at about 5–10 millimeters per year.<ref>Okada, A., On the Quaternary faulting along the Median Tectonic Line, in Median Tectonic Line (in Japanese with English abstract), edited by R. Sugiyama, pp. 49–86, Tokai University Press, Tokyo, 1973.</ref> The sense of motion is consistent with the direction of the Nankai Trough's oblique convergence. The rate of motion on the MTL is much less than the rate of convergence at the plate boundary. This makes it difficult to distinguish the motion on the MTL from interseismic elastic straining in GPS data.<ref>Miyazaki, S. and Heki, K. (2001) Crustal velocity field of southwest Japan: Subduction and arc-arc collision, Journal of Geophysical Research,vo. 106, no. B3.</ref>
Oceanic trenches
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East of the Japanese archipelago are three oceanic trenches.
- The Kuril–Kamchatka Trench is in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It lies off the southeast coast of Kamchatka and parallels the Kuril Island chain to meet the Japan Trench east of Hokkaido.<ref name=USGS>Rhea, S., et al., 2010, Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2007, Kuril–Kamchatka arc and vicinity, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010-1083-C, 1 map sheet, scale 1:5,000,000 http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1083/c/ Template:Webarchive</ref>
- The Japan Trench extends Template:Convert from the Kuril Islands to the northern end of the Izu Islands. Its deepest part is Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Japan Trench is created as the oceanic Pacific Plate subducts beneath the continental Okhotsk Plate. The subduction process causes bending of the down-going plate, creating a deep trench. Continuous movement on the subduction zone associated with the Japan Trench is one of the main causes of tsunamis and earthquakes in northern Japan, including the megathrust 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The rate of subduction associated with the Japan Trench has been recorded at about Template:Cvt/year.<ref name="revel"/>
- The Izu–Ogasawara Trench is south of the Japan Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of the Izu Trench (at the north) and the Bonin Trench (at the south, west of the Ogasawara Plateau).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It stretches to the northernmost section of the Mariana Trench.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Izu–Ogasawara Trench is an extension of the Japan Trench. There, the Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath the Philippine Sea Plate, creating the Izu Islands and Bonin Islands on the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc system.<ref name="izu-ogasawara-arc">Template:Cite web</ref>
Composition
[edit]The Japanese islands are formed of the mentioned geological units parallel to the subduction front. The parts of islands facing the Pacific Plate are typically younger and display a larger proportion of volcanic products, while island parts facing the Sea of Japan are mostly heavily faulted and folded sedimentary deposits. In northwest Japan, there are thick quaternary deposits. This makes the determination of the geological history and composition difficult, and it is not yet fully understood.<ref name="gsj">Template:Cite web</ref>
The Japanese island arc system has distributed volcanic series where the volcanic rocks change from tholeiite—calc-alkaline—alkaline with increasing distance from the trench.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The geologic province of Japan is mostly basin and has a bit of extended crust.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Growing archipelago
[edit]The Japanese archipelago grows gradually because of perpetual tectonic plate movements, earthquakes, stratovolcanoes, and land reclamation in the Ring of Fire.
For example, during the 20th century, several new volcanoes emerged, including Shōwa-shinzan on Hokkaido and Myōjin-shō off the Bayonnaise Rocks in the Pacific.<ref name="volcanoes-japan" /> The 1914 Sakurajima eruption produced lava flows that connected the former island with the Ōsumi Peninsula in Kyushu.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is the most active volcano in Japan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
During the 2013 eruption southeast of Nishinoshima, a new, unnamed volcanic island emerged from the sea.<ref name="Hokkaido">Template:Cite news</ref> Erosion and shifting sands caused the new island to merge with Nishinoshima.<ref name=kotobank>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="AsahiEng">Template:Cite news</ref> A 1911 survey determined the caldera was Template:Convert at its deepest.<ref name=Nakano3>Template:Cite web</ref>
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused portions of northeastern Japan to shift by Template:Convert closer to North America.<ref name=DW>Template:Cite news</ref> This made some sections of Japan's landmass wider than before.<ref name="NYTimes-Chang2011-03-13">Template:Cite news</ref> The areas of Japan closest to the epicenter experienced the largest shifts.<ref name="NYTimes-Chang2011-03-13" /> A Template:Convert stretch of coastline dropped vertically by Template:Convert, allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land.<ref name="NYTimes-Chang2011-03-13" /> On 6 April, the Japanese coast guard said that the earthquake shifted the seabed near the epicenter Template:Convert and elevated the seabed off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture by Template:Convert.<ref>Japan seabed shifted 24 metres after March quake Template:Pipe Reuters.com Template:Webarchive</ref> A report by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, published in Science on 2 December 2011, concluded that the seabed in the area between the epicenter and the Japan Trench moved Template:Convert east-southeast and rose about Template:Convert as a result of the quake. The report also stated that the quake caused several major landslides on the seabed in the affected area.<ref>Jiji Press, "March temblor shifted seabed by Template:Convert", Japan Times, 3 December 2011, p. 1.</ref>
Sea of Japan
[edit]
History
[edit]During the Pleistocene (spanning 2.58 million-11,700 years ago) glacial cycles, the Japanese islands may have occasionally been connected to the Eurasian Continent via the Korea Strait and the Korean Peninsula or Sakhalin. The Sea of Japan was considered to be a frozen inner lake because of the lack of the warm Tsushima Current. Various plants and large animals, such as the elephant Palaeoloxodon naumanni, migrated into the Japanese archipelago.<ref name = sealevel>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Sea of Japan was a landlocked sea when the land bridge of East Asia existed circa 18,000 BCE. During the glacial maximum, the marine elevation was 200 meters lower than present. Thus, Tsushima island in the Korea Strait was a land bridge that connected Kyushu and the southern tip of Honshu with the Korean peninsula. There were still several kilometers of sea to the west of the Ryukyu islands, and most of the Sea of Japan was open sea with a mean depth of Template:Cvt. Comparatively, most of the Yellow Sea (Yellow Plane) had a semi-arid climate (dry steppe) because it was relatively shallow, with a mean depth of Template:Convert. The Korean Peninsula was landlocked on the entire west and south sides of the Yellow Plane.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The onset of the formation of the Japan Arc was in the Early Miocene (23 million years ago).<ref name="Kameda 2011">Kameda Y. & Kato M. (2011). "Terrestrial invasion of pomatiopsid gastropods in the heavy-snow region of the Japanese Archipelago". BMC Evolutionary Biology 11: 118. Template:Doi.</ref> The Early Miocene period was when the Sea of Japan started to open and the northern and southern parts of the Japanese archipelago separated from each other.<ref name="Kameda 2011"/> The Sea of Japan expanded during the Miocene.<ref name="Kameda 2011"/>
The northern part of the Japanese archipelago was further fragmented until the orogenesis of the northeastern Japanese archipelago began in the Late Miocene. The orogenesis of the high mountain ranges in northeastern Japan started in the Late Miocene and lasted into the Pliocene.<ref name="Kameda 2011"/> The southern part of the Japanese archipelago remained a relatively large landmass. The land area expanded northward during the Miocene.<ref name="Kameda 2011"/>
During the advance of the last Ice Age, the world sea level dropped. This dried up and closed the exit straits of the Sea of Japan one by one. The deepest, and thus the last to close, was the western channel of the Korea Strait. There is controversy as to whether the Sea of Japan became a huge, cold inland lake.<ref name = sealevel/> The Japanese archipelago had a taiga biome (open boreal woodlands). It was characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril islands had mammoth steppe biome (steppe-tundra). The vegetation was dominated by palatable high-productivity grasses, herbs, and willow shrubs.
Present
[edit]The Sea of Japan has a surface area of Template:Cvt, a mean depth of Template:Cvt, and a maximum depth of Template:Cvt. It has a carrot-like shape, with the major axis extending from southwest to northeast and a wide southern part narrowing toward the north. The coastal length is about Template:Cvt, with the largest part (Template:Cvt) belonging to Russia. The sea extends from north to south for more than Template:Cvt and has a maximum width of about Template:Cvt.<ref name=bse>Sea of Japan Template:Webarchive, Great Soviet Encyclopedia Template:In lang</ref>
There are three major basins: the Yamato Basin in the southeast, the Japan Basin in the north, and the Tsushima Basin in the southwest.<ref name=brit>Sea of Japan Template:Webarchive, Encyclopædia Britannica on-line</ref> The Japan Basin has an oceanic crust and is the deepest part of the sea, whereas the Tsushima Basin is the shallowest, with depths below Template:Cvt. The Yamato Basin and Tsushima Basin have thick oceanic crusts.<ref name = bse/> The continental shelves of the sea are wide on the eastern shores of Japan. On the western shores, they are narrow, particularly along the Korean and Russian coasts, averaging about Template:Cvt.
The geographical location of the Japanese archipelago has defined the Sea of Japan for millions of years. Without the Japanese archipelago, it would just be the Pacific Ocean. The term has been the international standard since at least the early 19th century.<ref name="Basic Position">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2012, the International Hydrographic Organization, the international governing body for naming bodies of water around the world, recognized the term "Sea of Japan" as the only title for the sea.<ref>Kyodo News, "IHO nixes 'East Sea' name bid", Japan Times, 28 April 2012, p. 2; Rabiroff, Jon, and Yoo Kyong Chang, "Agency rejects South Korea's request to rename Sea of Japan Template:Webarchive", Stars and Stripes, 28 April 2012, p. 5.</ref>
Ocean currents
[edit]
The Japanese archipelago is surrounded by eight ocean currents.
- The Template:Nihongo is a warm, north-flowing ocean current on the west side of the Ryukyu Islands and along the east coast of Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu. It is a strong western boundary current and part of the North Pacific ocean gyre.
- The Kuroshio Current starts on the east coast of Luzon, Philippines, past Taiwan, and flows northeastward past Japan, where it merges with the easterly drift of the North Pacific Current.<ref name="EB1911">Template:Cite EB1911</ref> It transports warm, tropical water northward toward the polar region. The Kuroshio extension is a northward continuation of the Kuroshio Current in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The Kuroshio countercurrent flows southward to the east of the Kuroshio current in the Pacific Ocean and Philippine Sea.
- The winter-spawning Japanese Flying Squid are associated with the Kuroshio Current. The eggs and larvae develop during winter in the East China Sea, and the adults travel with minimum energy via the Kuroshio Current to the rich northern feeding grounds near northwestern Honshu and Hokkaido.<ref name="mann">Mann, K.H. and J.R.N. Lazier. (2006). Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems. Blackwell Scientific Publications, 2nd Edition</ref>
- The Template:Nihongo is a branch of the Kuroshio Current. It flows along the west coast of Kyushu and Honshu into the Sea of Japan.
- The Template:Nihongo current is a cold subarctic ocean current that flows southward and circulates counterclockwise along the east coast of Hokkaido and northeastern Honshu in the western North Pacific Ocean. The waters of the Oyashio Current originate in the Arctic Ocean and flow southward via the Bering Sea, passing through the Bering Strait and transporting cold water from the Arctic Sea into the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk. It collides with the Kuroshio Current off the eastern shore of Japan to form the North Pacific Current. The nutrient-rich Oyashio is named for its metaphorical role as the Template:Nihongo that provides for and nurtures marine organisms.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- The Liman Current is a southward-flowing cold ocean current that flows from the Strait of Tartary along the Asian continent in the Sea of Japan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Template:Nihongo originates when the Tsushima Current is divided in two as it flows through the west entrance of the Tsugaru Strait, and along the La Perouse Strait at the north coast of Hokkaido it becomes the Template:Nihongo. The flow rate is 1 to 3 knots. There is a relatively stronger flow in the summer than in the winter.<ref name="milt1">Template:Cite web</ref>
Natural resources
[edit]Land resources
[edit]There are small deposits of coal, oil, iron, and minerals in the Japanese archipelago.<ref name="CIA World Factbook"/> Japan is scarce in critical natural resources and has long been heavily dependent on imported energy and raw materials.<ref name="CIA World Factbook"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The oil crisis in 1973 encouraged the efficient use of energy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Japan has therefore aimed to diversify its sources and maintain high levels of energy efficiency.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In regards to agricultural products, the self-sufficiency rate of most items is less than 100%, except for rice. Rice has 100% food self-sufficiency. This makes it difficult to meet Japan's food demand without imports.
Marine resources
[edit]
The exclusive economic zone of Japan has an estimated large quantity of mineral resources such as methane clathrate, natural gas, metallic minerals, and rare-earth mineral reserves. Seabed mineral resources such as manganese nodules, cobalt-rich crust, and submarine hydrothermal deposits are located at depths over Template:Convert.<ref name="japan-seabed"/> Most of these deep-sea resources are unexplored at the seabed. Japan's mining law restricts offshore oil and gas production. There are technological hurdles to mine at such extreme depths and to limit the ecological impact. There are no successful commercial ventures that mine the deep sea yet. So currently, there are few deep sea mining projects to retrieve minerals or deepwater drilling on the ocean floor.
It is estimated that there are approximately 40 trillion cubic feet of methane clathrate in the eastern Nankai Trough of Japan.<ref name="天然ガスの本">藤田和男ほか監修 佐々木詔雄ほか編著 『天然ガスの本』 日刊工業新聞 2008年3月25日初版1刷発行 Template:ISBN</ref> As of 2019, the methane clathrate in the deep sea remains unexploited because the necessary technology has not been established yet. This is why, currently, Japan has very limited proven reserves like crude oil.
The Kantō region alone is estimated to have over 400 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves. It forms a Minami Kantō gas field in the area spanning Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Ibaraki, and Chiba prefectures. However, mining is strictly regulated in many areas because it is directly below Tokyo and is only slightly mined on the Bōsō Peninsula. In Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, there have been frequent accidents with natural gas that was released naturally from the Minami Kantō gas field.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In 2018, Template:Convert south of Minami-Tori-shima at Template:Convert deep, approximately 16 million tons of rare-earth minerals were discovered by JAMSTEC in collaboration with Waseda University and the University of Tokyo.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Marine life
[edit]Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch (2014).<ref name="CIA World Factbook"/> In 2005, Japan ranked sixth in the world in the tonnage of fish caught.<ref name="World review of fisheries and aquaculture">Template:Cite web</ref> Japan captured 4,074,580 metric tons of fish in 2005, down from 4,987,703 tons in 2000 and 9,864,422 tons in 1980.<ref name="Fish capture by country">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2003, the total aquaculture production was predicted at 1,301,437 tonnes.<ref name="Japan National Aquaculture Sector Overview">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2010, Japan's total fishery production was 4,762,469 fish.<ref name="World fisheries production, by capture and aquaculture, by country (2010)">Template:Cite web</ref> Offshore fisheries accounted for an average of 50% of the nation's total fish catches in the late 1980s, although they experienced repeated ups and downs during that period.<ref name=loc/>
Energy
[edit]Template:As of, 46.1% of energy in Japan was produced from petroleum, 21.3% from coal, 21.4% from natural gas, 4.0% from nuclear power, and 3.3% from hydropower. Nuclear power is a major domestic source of energy and produced 9.2 percent of Japan's electricity Template:As of, down from 24.9 percent the previous year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, the nuclear reactors were shut down. Thus, Japan's industrial sector became even more dependent than before on imported fossil fuels. By May 2012, all of the country's nuclear power plants were taken offline because of ongoing public opposition following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, though government officials continued to try to sway public opinion in favor of returning at least some of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors to service.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Shinzo Abe's government seeks to restart the nuclear power plants that meet strict new safety standards and is emphasizing nuclear energy's importance as a base-load electricity source.<ref name="CIA World Factbook"/> In 2015, Japan successfully restarted one nuclear reactor at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima prefecture, and several other reactors around the country have since resumed operations. Opposition from local governments has delayed several restarts that remain pending.
Reforms of the electricity and gas sectors, including the full liberalization of Japan's energy market in April 2016 and the gas market in April 2017, constitute an important part of Prime Minister Abe's economic program.<ref name="CIA World Factbook"/>
Japan has the third-largest geothermal reserves in the world. Geothermal energy is being heavily focused on as a source of power following the Fukushima disaster. The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is exploring over 40 locations for potential geothermal energy plants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 3 July 2018, Japan's government pledged to increase renewable energy sources from 15% to 22–24%, including wind and solar, by 2030. Nuclear energy will provide 20% of the country's energy needs as an emissions-free energy source. This will help Japan meet climate change commitments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
National Parks and Scenic Beauty
[edit]National Parks
[edit]
Japan has 34 Template:Nihongo and 56 Template:Nihongo in 2019. These are designated and managed for protection and sustainable usage by the Ministry of the Environment under the Template:Nihongo of 1957.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Quasi-National Parks have slightly less beauty, size, diversity, or preservation. They are recommended for ministerial designation and managed by the prefectures under the supervision of the Ministry of the Environment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Japanese archipelago has diverse landscapes.<ref name="water-supply"/> For example, the northern part of Hokkaido has a taiga biome.<ref>C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Taiga. eds. M.McGinley & C.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC Template:Webarchive</ref> Hokkaido has 22% of Japan's forestland with coniferous trees (Sakhalin fir and Sakhalin spruce) and broad-leaved trees (Japanese oak, birch, and painted maple). The seasonal views change throughout the year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the south, the Yaeyama Islands are in the subtropics, with numerous species of subtropical and tropical plants and mangrove forests.<ref name="c">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most natural islands have mountain ranges in the center and coastal plains.
- List of National Parks of Japan
- List of National Geoparks in Japan
- Wildlife Protection Areas in Japan
- List of Ramsar sites in Japan
- Cultural Landscapes
Places of Scenic Beauty
[edit]
The Places of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monuments are selected by the government via the Agency for Cultural Affairs in order to protect Japan's cultural heritage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of 2017, there are 1,027 Template:Nihongo and 410 Template:Nihongo. The highest classifications are 75 Template:Nihongo and 36 Template:Nihongo.
Three Views of Japan
[edit]The Template:Nihongo is the canonical list of Japan's three most celebrated scenic sights, attributed to 1643 scholar Hayashi Gahō.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These are traditionally the pine-clad islands of Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, the pine-clad sandbar of Amanohashidate in Kyoto Prefecture, and Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture. In 1915, the New Three Views of Japan were selected in a national election by the Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha (株式会社実業之日本社). In 2003, the Three Major Night Views of Japan were selected by the New Three Major Night Views of Japan and the 100 Night Views of Japan Club (新日本三大夜景・夜景100選事務局).
-
Pine-clad islands of Matsushima
-
Sandbar of Amanohashidate
.jpg){kind=link}
Climate
[edit]Template:More citations needed
Most regions of Japan, such as much of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, belong to the temperate zone with a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) characterized by four distinct seasons. However, its climate varies from a cool, humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa/Dfb) in the north, such as northern Hokkaido, to a warm tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af) in the south, such as the Yaeyama Islands and Minami-Tori-shima.
Climate zones
[edit]
Japan's varied geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones.
- Hokkaido belongs to the humid continental climate, with long, cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation is sparse; however, winter brings large snowfalls of hundreds of inches in areas such as Sapporo and Asahikawa.
- In the Sea of Japan, the northwest seasonal wind in winter gives heavy snowfall, which south of Tōhoku mostly melts before the beginning of spring. In summer, it is a little less rainy than in the Pacific area, but it sometimes experiences extreme high temperatures because of the foehn wind phenomenon.
- Central Highland: a typical inland climate gives large temperature variations between summers and winters and between days and nights. Precipitation is lower than on the coast because of rain shadow effects.
- Seto Inland Sea: the mountains in the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions block the seasonal winds and bring a mild climate and many fine days throughout the year.
- Pacific Ocean: the climate varies greatly between the north and the south, but generally winters are significantly milder and sunnier than those of the side that faces the Sea of Japan. Summers are hot because of the southeast seasonal wind. Precipitation is very heavy in the south and heavy in the summer in the north. The climate of the Ogasawara Island chain ranges from a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) to a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw), with temperatures being warm to hot all year round.
- The climate of the Ryukyu Islands ranges from a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) in the north to a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af) in the south, with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very high and is especially affected by the rainy season and typhoons.
Rainfall
[edit]Japan is generally a rainy country with high humidity.<ref name=loc/> Because of its wide range of latitude,<ref name=loc/> seasonal winds, and different types of ocean currents,Template:Citation needed Japan has a variety of climates, with the latitude range of the inhabited islands ranging from 24°N to 46°N, which is comparable to the range between Nova Scotia and The Bahamas on the east coast of North America.<ref name=loc/> Tokyo is between 35°N and 36°N, which is comparable to that of Tehran, Athens, or Las Vegas.<ref name=loc/>
As Mount Fuji and the coastal Japanese Alps provide a rain shadow, Nagano and Yamanashi Prefectures receive the least precipitation in Honshu, though it still exceeds Template:Convert annually. A similar effect is found in Hokkaido, where Okhotsk Subprefecture receives as little as Template:Convert per year. All other prefectures have coasts on the Pacific Ocean, Sea of Japan, or Seto Inland Sea or have a body of salt water connected to them. Two prefectures—Hokkaido and Okinawa—are composed entirely of islands.
Summer
[edit]The climate from June to September is marked by hot, wet weather brought by tropical airflows from the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia.<ref name=loc/> These air flows are full of moisture and deposit substantial amounts of rain when they reach land.<ref name=loc/> There is a marked rainy season, beginning in early June and continuing for about a month.<ref name=loc/> It is followed by hot, sticky weather.<ref name=loc/> Five or six typhoons pass over or near Japan every year from early August to early October, resulting in significant damage.<ref name=loc/> Annual precipitation averages between Template:Convert except for areas such as Kii Peninsula and Yakushima Island, which is Japan's wettest place,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with the annual precipitation being one of the world's highest at 4,000 to 10,000 mm.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Maximum precipitation, like the rest of East Asia, occurs in the summer months except on the Sea of Japan coast, where strong northerly winds produce a maximum in late autumn and early winter. Except for a few sheltered inland valleys during December and January, precipitation in Japan is above Template:Convert of rainfall equivalent in all months of the year, and in the wettest coastal areas it is above Template:Convert per month throughout the year.
Mid-June to mid-July is generally the rainy season in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, excluding Hokkaido since the seasonal rain front, or Template:Nihongo, dissipates in northern Honshu before reaching Hokkaido. In Okinawa, the rainy season starts early in May and continues until mid-June. Unlike the rainy season in mainland Japan, it rains neither everyday nor all day long during the rainy season in Okinawa. Between July and October, typhoons, grown from tropical depressions generated near the equator, can attack Japan with furious rainstorms.
Winter
[edit]
In winter, the Siberian High develops over the Eurasian land mass and the Aleutian Low develops over the northern Pacific Ocean.<ref name=loc/> The result is a flow of cold air southeastward across Japan that brings freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls to the central mountain ranges facing the Sea of Japan but clear skies to areas fronting the Pacific.<ref name=loc/>
The warmest winter temperatures are found in the Nanpō and Bonin Islands, which enjoy a tropical climate due to the combination of latitude, distance from the Asian continent, and warming effect of winds from the Kuroshio, as well as the Volcano Islands (at the latitude of the southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, 24° N). The coolest summer temperatures are found on the northeastern coast of Hokkaido in Kushiro and Nemuro Subprefectures.
Sunshine
[edit]Sunshine, in accordance with Japan's uniformly heavy rainfall, is generally modest in quantity, though no part of Japan receives the consistently gloomy fogs that envelope the Sichuan Basin or Taipei. Amounts range from about six hours per day on the Inland Sea coast and sheltered parts of the Pacific Coast and Kantō Plain to four hours per day on the Sea of Japan coast of Hokkaido. In December, there is a very pronounced sunshine gradient between the Sea of Japan and Pacific coasts, as the former side can receive less than 30 hours and the Pacific side as much as 180 hours. In summer, however, sunshine hours are lowest on exposed parts of the Pacific coast, where fogs from the Oyashio current create persistent cloud cover similar to that found on the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.
Extreme temperature records
[edit]The highest recorded temperature in Japan was 41.1 °C (106.0 °F) on 23 July 2018. An unverified record of 42.7 °C was taken in Adachi, Tokyo, on 20 July 2004. The high humidity and the maritime influence make temperatures in the 40s rare, with summers dominated by a more stable subtropical monsoon pattern through most of Japan. The lowest was −41.0 °C (−41.8 °F) in Asahikawa on 25 January 1902. However, an unofficial −41.5 °C was taken in Bifuka on 27 January 1931. Mount Fuji broke the Japanese record lows for each month except January, February, March, and December. Record lows for any month were taken as recently as 1984.
Minami-Tori-shima has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw) and the highest average temperature in Japan of 25 °C.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Record high temperatures | Record low temperatures | ||||||||
| Month | °C | °F | Location | Date | °C | °F | Location | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29.7 | 85.5 | Minami-Tori-shima | 7 January 1954 9 January 2021 |
−41.0 | −41.8 | Asahikawa, Hokkaido | 25 January 1902 | |
| February | 29.1 | 84.4 | Ishigaki | 16 February 1898 | −38.3 | −36.9 | Asahikawa, Hokkaido | 11 February 1902 | |
| March | 30.4 | 86.7 | Naze, Kagoshima | 26 March 1999 | −35.2 | −31.4 | Obihiro, Hokkaido | 3 March 1895 | |
| April | 33.7 | 92.7 | Yonago | 28 April 2005 | −27.8 | −18.0 | Mount Fuji | 3 April 1965 | |
| May | 39.5 | 103.1 | Saroma | 26 May 2019 | −18.9 | −2.0 | Mount Fuji | 3 May 1934 | |
| June | 40.2 | 104.4 | Isesaki | 25 June 2022 | −13.1 | 8.4 | Mount Fuji | 2 June 1981 | |
| July | 41.1 | 106.0 | Kumagaya, Saitama | 23 July 2018 | −6.9 | 19.6 | Mount Fuji | 4 July 1966 | |
| August | 41.1 | 106.0 | Hamamatsu, Shizuoka | 17 August 2020 | −4.3 | 24.3 | Mount Fuji | 25 August 1972 | |
| September | 40.4 | 104.7 | Sanjō, Niigata | 3 September 2020 | −10.8 | 12.6 | Mount Fuji | 23 September 1976 | |
| October | 36.0 | 96.8 | Sanjō, Niigata | 6 October 2018 | −19.5 | −3.2 | Mount Fuji | 30 October 1984 | |
| November | 34.2 | 94.4 | Minami-Tori-shima | 4 November 1953 | −28.1 | −18.6 | Mount Fuji | 30 November 1970 | |
| December | 31.6 | 88.9 | Minami-Tori-shima | 5 December 1952 | −34.2 | −29.6 | Obihiro, Hokkaido | 30 December 1907 | |
| Record high temperatures | Record low temperatures | ||||||||
| Season | °C | °F | Location | Date | °C | °F | Location | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 31.6 | 88.9 | Minami-Tori-shima | 5 December 1952 | −41.0 | −41.8 | Asahikawa, Hokkaido | 25 January 1902 | |
| Spring | 39.5 | 103.1 | Saroma, Hokkaido | 26 May 2019 | −35.2 | −31.4 | Obihiro, Hokkaido | 3 March 1895 | |
| Summer | 41.1 | 106.0 | Kumagaya, Saitama Hamamatsu, Shizuoka |
23 July 2018 17 August 2020 |
−13.1 | 8.4 | Mount Fuji | 2 June 1981 | |
| Autumn | 40.4 | 104.7 | Sanjō, Niigata | 3 September 2020 | −28.1 | −18.6 | Mount Fuji | 30 November 1970 | |
Population distribution
[edit]Template:Main Template:See also
Japan has a population of 126.3 million in 2019.<ref name="SBJ-Population-June-2019">Template:Cite web</ref> It is the eleventh-most populous country and the second-most populous island country in the world.<ref name="world-atlas"/> The population is clustered in urban areas along the coast, plains, and valleys.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> In 2010, 90.7% of the total Japanese population lived in cities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Japan is an urban society, with about 5% of the labor force working in agriculture. About 80 million of the urban population is heavily concentrated on the Pacific coast of Honshu.<ref name="jpn-places">Template:Cite web</ref>
81% of the population lives on Honshu, 10% on Kyushu, 4.2% on Hokkaido, 3% on Shikoku, 1.1% in Okinawa Prefecture, and 0.7% on other Japanese islands such as the Nanpō Islands. Nearly 1 in 3 Japanese people live in the Greater Tokyo Area, and over half live in the Kanto, Kinki, and Chukyo metropolitan areas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Honshu
[edit]Template:Nihongo is the largest island of Japan and the second most populous island in the world. It has a population of 104,000,000 with a population density of Template:Pop density (2010).<ref name="JPCensus">Template:Cite web</ref> Honshu is roughly Template:Convert long and ranges from Template:Convert wide, and the total area is Template:Convert. It is the 7th largest island in the world.<ref name="autogenerated5">Template:Cite web</ref> This makes it slightly larger than the island of Great Britain (Template:Convert).<ref name="autogenerated5"/>
The Greater Tokyo Area on Honshu is the largest metropolitan area (megacity) in the world, with Template:Nts people (2016).<ref name="japan1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The area is Template:Convert<ref name=MMA>Japan Statistics Bureau – Keihin'yō Major Metropolitan Area Template:Webarchive</ref> and has a population density of 2,642 persons/km2.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Kyushu
[edit]Template:Nihongo is the third-largest island of Japan of the five main islands.<ref name="main-islands-japan"/><ref>Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Kyūshū" in Template:Google books</ref> Template:As of, Kyushu has a population of 12,970,479 and covers Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It has the second-highest population density of 307.13 persons/km2 (2016).
Shikoku
[edit]Template:Nihongo is the second-smallest of the five main islands (after Okinawa Island), with Template:Convert. It is located south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. It has the second-smallest population of 3,845,534 (2015)<ref name="main-islands-japan"/><ref name=tourism>Template:Cite web</ref> and the third-highest population density of 204.55 persons/km2.
Hokkaido
[edit]Template:Nihongo is the second-largest island of Japan and the largest and northernmost prefecture. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu.<ref name="nussbaum343">Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Hokkaido" in Template:Google books</ref> It has the third largest population of the five main islands, with 5,383,579 (2015),<ref name="main-islands-japan"/><ref name="JPCensus"/> and the lowest population density, with just 64.5 persons/km2 (2016). The island area ranks 21st in the world by area. It is 3.6% smaller than the island of Ireland.
Okinawa Prefecture
[edit]Template:Nihongo is the southernmost prefecture of Japan.<ref>Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Okinawa-shi" in Template:Google books</ref> It encompasses two-thirds of the Ryukyu Islands, over Template:Convert long. It has a population of 1,445,812 (2017) and a density of 662 persons/km2. Template:Nihongo is the smallest and most southwestern of the five main islands, at Template:Convert.<ref name="main-islands-japan"/> It has the smallest population of 1,301,462 (2014) and the highest population density of 1083.6 persons/km2.
Nanpō Islands
[edit]Template:Nihongo are the groups of islands that are located to the south and east of the main islands of the Japanese archipelago. They extend from the Izu Peninsula west of Tokyo Bay southward for about Template:Convert to within Template:Convert of the Mariana Islands. The Nanpō Islands are all administered by Tokyo Metropolis.
Taiheiyō Belt
[edit]
The Taiheiyō Belt is a megalopolis that includes the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihanshin megapoles. It is almost Template:Convert long, from Ibaraki Prefecture in the northeast to Fukuoka Prefecture in the southwest. Satellite images at night show a dense and continuous strip of light (demarcating urban zones) that delineates the region with overlapping metropolitan areas in Japan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has a total population of approximately 81,859,345 (2016).
- Taiheiyō Belt – includes Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Mie, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Wakayama, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, and Ōita. (81,859,345 people)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Greater Tokyo Area – Part of the larger Kantō region, broadly includes Tokyo and Yokohama. (38,000,000 people)<ref>United Nations (March 12, 2017). "The World's Cities in 2016 Template:Webarchive" (PDF). United Nations</ref>
- Keihanshin – Part of the larger Kansai region, includes Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. (19,341,976 people)<ref>Japan Statistics Bureau Template:Webarchive – "2010 Census", retrieved August 23, 2015</ref>
Underwater habitats
[edit]There are plans to build underwater habitats in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone. Currently no underwater city is constructed yet. For example, the Ocean Spiral by Shimizu Corporation would have a floating dome 500 meters in diameter with hotels, residential and commercial complexes. It could be 15 km long. This allows mining of the seabed, research and production of methane from carbon dioxide with micro-organisms. The Ocean Spiral was co-developed with JAMSTEC and Tokyo University.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Extreme points
[edit]
Japan extends from 20° to 45° north latitude (Okinotorishima to Benten-jima) and from 122° to 153° east longitude (Yonaguni to Minami Torishima).<ref name="geohack">Template:Cite web</ref> These are the points that are farther north, south, east, or west than any other location in Japan.
| Heading | Location | Prefecture | Bordering entity | CoordinatesTemplate:Ref | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North (disputed) |
Cape Kamoiwakka on Etorofu | HokkaidoTemplate:Ref | Sea of Okhotsk | Template:Coord | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| North (undisputed) |
Benten-jima | Hokkaido | La Pérouse Strait | Template:Coord | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| South | Okinotorishima | Tokyo | Philippine Sea | Template:Coord | |
| East | Minami Torishima | Tokyo | Pacific Ocean | Template:Coord | |
| West | Yonaguni | Okinawa | East China Sea | Template:Coord | The westernmost Monument of Japan |
Japan's main islands
[edit]The five main islands of Japan are Hokkaido, Honshū, Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Okinawa. These are also called the mainland.<ref name="main-islands-japan"/> All of these points are accessible to the public.
| Heading | Location | Prefecture | Bordering entity | CoordinatesTemplate:Ref | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North | Cape Sōya | Hokkaido | La Pérouse Strait | Template:Coord | |
| South | Cape Arasaki | Okinawa | East China Sea | Template:Coord | |
| East | Cape Nosappu | Hokkaido | Pacific Ocean | Template:Coord | |
| West | Cape Oominezaki | Okinawa | East China Sea | Template:Coord |
Extreme altitudes
[edit]| Extremity | Name | Altitude | Prefecture | CoordinatesTemplate:Ref | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highest | Mount Fuji | Template:Convert | Yamanashi | Template:Coord | <ref name="CIA World Factbook"/> |
| Lowest (human-made) |
Hachinohe mine | −170 m (−558 ft) | Aomori | Template:Coord | <ref name="mine">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Lowest (natural) |
Hachirōgata | −4 m (−13 ft) | Akita | Template:Coord | <ref name="CIA World Factbook"/> |
Largest islands of Japan
[edit]
These are the 50 largest islands of Japan. It excludes the disputed Kuril Islands, known as the northern territories.
Northern Territories
[edit]
Template:Main Japan has a longstanding claim to the Southern Kuril Islands (Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai Islands). These islands were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945.<ref>MOFA, Japan's Northern Territories Template:Webarchive</ref> The Kuril Islands historically belonged to Japan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Kuril Islands were first inhabited by the Ainu people and then controlled by the Japanese Matsumae clan in the Edo Period.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Soviet Union did not sign the San Francisco Treaty in 1951. The U.S. Senate Resolution of April 28, 1952, ratifying the San Francisco Treaty, explicitly stated that the USSR had no title to the Kurils.<ref name="goodby">James E. Goodby, Vladimir I. Ivanov, Nobuo Shimotomai, Northern territories and beyond: Russian, Japanese, and American Perspectives, Praeger Publishers, 1995</ref> This dispute has prevented the signing of a peace treaty between Japan and Russia.
Geographically, the Kuril Islands are a northeastern extension of Hokkaido. Kunashiri and the Habomai Islands are visible from the northeastern coast of Hokkaido. Japan considers the northern territories (aka Southern Chishima) part of the Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture.
Time zone
[edit]There is one time zone in the whole Japanese archipelago. It is 9 hours ahead of UTC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There is no daylight saving time. The easternmost Japanese island, Minami-Tori-shima, also uses Japan Standard Time, while it is geographically Template:Convert southeast of Tokyo and in the UTC+10:00 time zone.
Sakhalin uses UTC+11:00, even though it is located directly north of Hokkaido. The Northern Territories and the Kuril Islands use UTC+11:00, although they are geographically in UTC+10:00.
Natural hazards
[edit]Earthquakes and tsunami
[edit]
Template:See also Japan is substantially prone to earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes because of its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has the 15th highest natural disaster risk as measured in the 2013 World Risk Index.<ref name="2013 World Risk Report">2013 World Risk Report Template:Webarchive</ref>
As many as 1,500 earthquakes are recorded yearly, and magnitudes of 4 to 6 are common.<ref name=loc/> Minor tremors occur almost daily in one part of the country or another, causing slight shaking of buildings.<ref name=loc/> Undersea earthquakes also expose the Japanese coastline to danger from Template:Nihongo.<ref name=loc/>
Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunamis, occur several times each century.<ref name="volcanoes-japan" /> The 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, a 9.1-magnitude<ref name="USGS9.1">Template:Cite web</ref> quake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. It triggered a large tsunami and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, one of the worst disasters in the history of nuclear power.<ref name="nytimes-tsunami">Template:Cite news</ref>
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was the largest ever recorded in Japan and is the world's fourth largest earthquake to strike since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Service. It struck offshore about Template:Convert northeast of Tokyo and Template:Convert east of the city of Sendai and created a massive tsunami that devastated Japan's northeastern coastal areas. At least 100 aftershocks registering a magnitude of 6.0 or higher have followed the main shock. At least 15,000 people died as a result.
Researchers found the source of great thrust earthquakes and associated tsunamis in the Greater Tokyo Area at the Izu-Ogasawara Trench.<ref name="phys1"/> There is a 'trench-trench triple junction' of the oceanic Philippine Sea Plate that underthrusts a continental plate and is being subducted by the Pacific Plate.<ref name="phys1">Template:Cite web</ref>
Reclaimed land and human-made islands are particularly susceptible to liquefaction during an earthquake. As a result, there are specific earthquake resistance standards and ground reform work that apply to all construction in these areas. In an area that was possibly reclaimed in the past, old maps and land condition drawings are checked, and drilling is carried out to determine the strength of the ground. However, this can be very costly, so for a private residential block of land, a Swedish weight sounding test is more common.<ref name="reclaimed-land"/>
Japan has become a world leader in research on the causes and prediction of earthquakes.<ref name=loc/> The development of advanced technology has permitted the construction of skyscrapers even in earthquake-prone areas.<ref name=loc/> Extensive civil defense efforts focus on training in protection against earthquakes, in particular against accompanying fire, which represents the greatest danger.<ref name=loc/>
Volcanic eruptions
[edit]
Template:See also Japan has 111 active volcanoes. That is 10% of all active volcanoes in the world. Japan has stratovolcanoes near the subduction zones of the tectonic plates. During the 20th century, several new volcanoes emerged, including Shōwa-shinzan on Hokkaido and Myōjin-shō off the Bayonnaise Rocks in the Pacific.<ref name="volcanoes-japan">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1991, Japan's Unzen Volcano on Kyushu, about Template:Convert east of Nagasaki, awakened from its 200-year slumber to produce a new lava dome at its summit. Beginning in June, repeated collapse of this erupting dome generated ash flows that swept down the mountain's slopes at speeds as high as Template:Convert. Unzen erupted in 1792 and killed more than 15,000 people. It is the worst volcanic disaster in the country's recorded history.<ref name="dynearth">Template:USGS</ref>
Mount Fuji is a dormant stratovolcano that last erupted on 16 December 1707 till about 1 January 1708.<ref name=GSJ_active>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Britannica>Template:Cite web</ref> The Hōei eruption of Mount Fuji did not have a lava flow, but it did release some Template:Convert of volcanic ash. It spread over vast areas around the volcano and reached Edo almost Template:Convert away. Cinders and ash fell like rain in Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi provinces.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Edo, the volcanic ash was several centimeters thick.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The eruption is rated a 5 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index.<ref name="Fuji — Eruption History">Template:Cite web</ref>
There are three VEI-7 volcanoes in Japan. These are the Aira Caldera, the Kikai Caldera, and the Aso Caldera. These giant calderas are remnants of past eruptions. Mount Aso is the largest active volcano in Japan. 300,000 to 90,000 years ago, there were four eruptions of Mount Aso that emitted huge amounts of volcanic ash that covered all of Kyushu and up to Yamaguchi Prefecture.
- The Aira Caldera is 17 kilometers long and 23 kilometers wide, located in south Kyushu. The city of Kagoshima and the Sakurajima volcano are within the Aira Caldera. Sakurajima is the most active volcano in Japan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Aso Caldera stretches 25 kilometers north to south and 18 kilometers east to west in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu. It has erupted four times: 266,000 and 141,000 years ago with 32 DRE km3 (dense-rock equivalent) each; 130,000 years ago with 96 DRE km3; and 90,000 years ago with 384 DRE km3.<ref name="52Aso">阿蘇カルデラ 産総研</ref>
- The Kikai Caldera is a massive, mostly submerged caldera up to 19 kilometres (12 mi) in diameter in the Ōsumi Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It is the remains of the ancient eruption of a colossal volcano. Kikai Caldera was the source of the Akahoya eruption, one of the largest eruptions during the Holocene (10,000 years ago to present). About 4,300 BC, pyroclastic flows from that eruption reached the coast of southern Kyūshū up to Template:Convert away, and ash fell as far as Hokkaido. The eruption produced about 150 km3 of tephra,<ref>Kikai – Eruptive history Template:Webarchive, Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.</ref> giving it a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7.<ref>Johnston, Eric, "Latest volcano show: Shinmoe Template:Webarchive", The Japan Times, 1 March 2011, p. 3.</ref> The Jōmon culture of at least southern Kyushu was destroyed, and it took nearly 1,000 years to recover.<ref name = "KOBEC Caldera Eruption"/>
Surveys by KOBEC (Kobe Ocean-Bottom Exploration Center) confirm that a giant lava dome of 23 cubic kilometers formed after the Kikai Caldera erupted in 4,300 BC. There is a 1% chance of a giant caldera eruption in the Japanese archipelago within the next 100 years. Approximately 40 cubic kilometers of magma would be released in one burst and cause enormous damage.<ref name = "Japan's Kikai Caldera">Template:Cite web</ref>
According to a 2014 study by KOBEC of Kobe University, in a worst-case scenario, if there is a VEI-7 eruption of the Aso Caldera and if the volcanic ash is carried by westerly winds, then pyroclastic flows would cover the 7 million population near the Aso Caldera within two hours. The pyroclastic flows could reach much of Kyushu. Beyond the pyroclastic area is volcanic ash that falls from the sky. If the volcanic ash continuously flows northward, then the ash fall would make it impossible to live normally in large parts of the main islands of Japan due to the paralysis of traffic and lifelines for a limited period (a few days to 2 weeks) until the eruption subsides. In this scenario, the exception would be eastern and northern Hokkaido (the Ryukyu Islands and southern Nanpo Islands would also be excluded). Professor Yoshiyuki Tatsumi, head of KOBEC, told the Mainichi Shimbun that "the probability of a gigantic caldera eruption hitting the Japanese archipelago is 1 percent in the next 100 years" with a death toll of many tens of millions of people and wildlife.<ref name = "KOBEC Caldera Eruption">Template:Cite web</ref> The potential exists for tens of millions of humans and other living beings to die during a VEI-7 volcanic eruption with significant short-term effects on the global climate. Most casualties would occur in Kyushu from the pyroclastic flows. The potential damage from the volcanic ash depends on the wind direction. If, in another scenario, the wind blows in a western or southern direction, then the volcanic ash could affect the East Asian continent or South-East Asia. If the ash flows eastward, then it will spread over the Pacific Ocean. Since the Kikai Caldera is submerged, it is unclear how much damage the hot ash clouds would cause if large quantities of volcanic ash stayed beneath the ocean surface. The underwater ash would be swept away by ocean currents.
Paektu Mountain on the Chinese–North Korean border had a VEI-7 eruption in 946. Paektu Mountain is mainly a threat to the surrounding area in North Korea and Manchuria. The west coast of Hokkaido is about Template:Convert away. However, a temple in Japan reported "white ash falling like snow" on 3 November 946 AD.<ref name="paektu-sd">Template:Cite press release</ref> So strong winds carried the volcanic ash eastward across the Sea of Japan. An average of Template:Convert of ashfall covered about Template:Convert of the Sea of Japan and northern Japan (Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture).<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> It took the ash clouds a day or so to reach Hokkaido.<ref name="paektu-sd"/> The total eruption duration was 4 and a half to 14 days (111–333 hours).<ref name="changbaishan">Template:Cite book</ref>
In October 2021, large quantities of pumice pebbles from the submarine volcano Fukutoku-Okanoba damaged fisheries, tourism, the environment, 11 ports in Okinawa, and 19 ports in Kagoshima prefecture.<ref name="pumice"/> Clean-up operations took 2–3 weeks.<ref name="pumice">Template:Cite web</ref>
| Name | Zone | Location | Event / notes | Years ago before 1950 (Approx.) | Ejecta volume (Approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kikai Caldera | Japan, Ryukyu Islands | Akahoya eruption 5,300 BC | 7,300<ref name="Smith2013">Template:Cite journal</ref> | 170 km3 | |
| Aira Caldera | Japan, Kyūshū | Aira-Tanzawa ash | 30,000<ref name="Smith2013"/> | 450 km3 | |
| Aso Caldera | Japan, Kyūshū | Aso-4 pyroclastic flow | 90,000 | 600 km3 | |
| Mount Aso | Japan, Kyūshū | Four large eruptions between 300,000 and 90,000 years ago. | 300,000 | 600 km3 |
Improving technology and methods to predict volcano and giant caldera eruptions would help to prepare and evacuate people earlier. Technology is needed to accurately capture the state of the magma chamber, which spreads thinly with a thickness of less than several kilometers around the middle of the crust. The underground area of Kyushu must be monitored because it is a dangerous area with the potential for a caldera eruption. The most protective measure is to stop the hot ash clouds from spreading and devastating areas near the eruption so that people don't need to evacuate. There are currently no protective measures to minimize the spread of millions of tons of deadly hot ash during a VEI-7 eruption.
In 2018, NASA published a theoretical plan to prevent a volcanic eruption by pumping large quantities of cold water down a borehole into the hydrothermal system of a supervolcano. The water would cool the huge body of magma in the chambers below the volcano so that the liquid magma would become semi-solid. Thus, enough heat could be extracted to prevent an eruption. The heat could be used by a geothermal plant to generate geothermal energy and electricity.<ref name=NASA-supervolcano>Template:Cite news</ref>
Typhoons
[edit]Template:Main Since recording started in 1951, an average of 2.6 typhoons reached the main islands of Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, and Hokkaido per year. Approximately 10.3 typhoons approach within the 300-kilometer range near the coast of Japan. Okinawa is, due to its geographic location, most vulnerable to typhoons, with an average of 7 storms per year. The most destructive was the Isewan Typhoon, with 5,000 casualties in the Tokai region in September 1959. In October 2004, Typhoon Tokage caused heavy rain in Kyushu and central Japan, resulting in 98 casualties. Until the 1960s, the death toll was hundreds of people per typhoon. Since the 1960s, improvements in construction, flood prevention, high tide detection, and early warnings have substantially reduced the death toll, which rarely exceeds a dozen people per typhoon. Japan also has special search and rescue units to save people in distress.<ref name="typhoondetails">Template:Cite web</ref>
Heavy snowfall during the winter in the snow country regions causes landslides, flooding, and avalanches.
Environmental issues
[edit]Template:MainIn the 2006 environment annual report,<ref>Annual Report on the Environment in Japan 2006 Template:Webarchive, Ministry of the Environment</ref> the Ministry of Environment reported that the current major issues are: global warming and preservation of the ozone layer; conservation of the atmospheric environment, water, and soil; waste management and recycling; measures for chemical substances; conservation of the natural environment; and participation in international cooperation.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]External links
[edit]- "Colton's Japan: Nippon, Kiusiu, Sikok, Yesso and the Japanese Kuriles" Template:Webarchive a map from 1855
- Terrain of Japan Template:Webarchive – GJI Maps (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan)
Template:Japan topics Template:Geography of Asia Template:Asia topic