Editing Geography of Japan (section)

==Largest islands of Japan==
[[File:Ogasawara islands.png|thumb|upright=1.25|The [[Nanpō Islands]] of the [[Japanese archipelago]]]]
[[File:Map_of_Izu_Islands.png|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Izu Islands]] south of Tokyo]]
[[File:Location_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands.JPG|thumb|upright=1.25|The [[Ryukyu Islands]] administered by [[Kagoshima Prefecture]] and [[Okinawa Prefecture]]]]

{{main|List of islands of Japan|List of islands of Japan by area|Japanese archipelago}}

These are the 50 largest islands of Japan. It excludes the disputed Kuril Islands, known as the [[Kuril Islands dispute|northern territories]].

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Rank !! Island name !! | Area<br />(km<sup>2</sup>) !! Area<br />(sq mi) !! Island group
|-
| 1 ||[[Honshu]]|| 227,960 ||{{convert|227,960|km2|disp=number}}||
|-
| 2 || [[Hokkaido]] || 83,424.31 || {{convert|83,424.31|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 3 || [[Kyushu]] || 36,782 || {{convert|36,782|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 4 || [[Shikoku]] || 18,800 || {{convert|18,800|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 5 || [[Okinawa Island]] || 1,207 || {{convert|1,207|km2|disp=number}} || [[Ryukyu Islands]]
|-
| 6 || [[Sado, Niigata|Sado Island]] || 855.26 || {{convert|855.26|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 7 || [[Amami Ōshima]] || 712.35 || {{convert|712.35|km2|disp=number}} || [[Amami Islands]]
|-
| 8 || [[Tsushima Island]] || 708.7|| {{convert|708.7|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 9 || [[Awaji Island]] || 592.17|| {{convert|592.17|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 10 || [[Shimoshima Island, Amakusa]] || 574.01|| {{convert|574.01|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 11 || [[Yakushima]] || 504.88 || {{convert|504.88|km2|disp=number}} || [[Ōsumi Islands]]
|-
| 12 || [[Tanegashima]] || 444.99 || {{convert|444.99|km2|disp=number}} || [[Ōsumi Islands]]
|-
| 13 || [[Fukue Island]] || 326.43 || {{convert|326.43|km2|disp=number}} || [[Gotō Islands]]
|-
| 14 || [[Iriomote Island]] || 289.27 || {{convert|289.27|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 15 || [[Tokunoshima]] || 247.8 || {{convert|247.8|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 16 || [[Dōgojima]] || 241.58 || {{convert|241.58|km2|disp=number}} || [[Oki Islands]]
|-
| 17 || [[Kamishima Island, Amakusa]] || 225.32 || {{convert|225.32|km2|disp=number}} || [[Amakusa]] islands
|-
| 18 || [[Ishigaki Island]] || 222.5 || {{convert|222.5|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 19 || [[Rishiri Island]] || 183 || {{convert|183|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 20 || [[Nakadōri Island]] || 168.34 || {{convert|168.34|km2|disp=number}} || [[Gotō Islands]]
|-
| 21 || [[Hirado Island]] || 163.42 || {{convert|163.42|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 22 || [[Miyako-jima]] || 158.87 || {{convert|158.87|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 23 || [[Shōdoshima]] || 153.30 || {{convert|153.30|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 24 || [[Okushiri Island]] || 142.97 || {{convert|142.97|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 25 || [[Iki Island]] || 138.46|| {{convert|138.46|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 26 || [[Suō-Ōshima]] || 128.31|| {{convert|128.31|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 27 || [[Okinoerabujima]] || 93.63 || {{convert|93.63|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 28 || [[Etajima]] || 91.32 || {{convert|91.32|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 29 || [[Izu Ōshima]] || 91.06 || {{convert|91.06|km2|disp=number}} || [[Izu Islands]]
|-
| 30 || [[Nagashima Island, Kagoshima]] || 90.62 || {{convert|90.62|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 31 || [[Rebun Island]] || 80 || {{convert|80|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 32 || [[Kakeromajima]] || 77.39 || {{convert|77.39|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 33 || [[Kurahashi-jima]] || 69.46 || {{convert|69.46|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 34 || [[Shimokoshiki-jima]] || 66.12 || {{convert|66.12|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 35 || [[Ōmishima Island, Ehime]] || 66.12 || {{convert|66.12|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 36 || [[Hachijō-jima]] || 62.52 || {{convert|62.52|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 37 || [[Kume Island]] || 59.11 || {{convert|59.11|km2|disp=number}} || [[Okinawa Islands]]
|-
| 38 || [[Kikaijima]] || 56.93 || {{convert|56.93|km2|disp=number}} || [[Amami Islands]]
|-
| 39 || [[Nishinoshima, Shimane|Nishinoshima]] || 55.98 || {{convert|55.98|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 40 || [[Miyake-jima]] || 55.44 || {{convert|55.44|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 41 || [[Notojima]] || 46.78 || {{convert|46.78|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 42 || [[Kamikoshiki-jima]] || 45.08 || {{convert|45.08|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 43 || [[Ōshima (Ehime)]] || 41.87 || {{convert|41.87|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 44 || [[Ōsakikamijima]] || 38.27 || {{convert|38.27|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 45 || [[Kuchinoerabu-jima]] || 38.04 || {{convert|38.04|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 46 || [[Hisaka]] || 37.23 || {{convert|37.23|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 47 || [[Innoshima]] || 35.03 || {{convert|35.03|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 48 || [[Nakanoshima (Kagoshima)|Nakanoshima (in Kagoshima)]] || 34.47 || {{convert|34.47|km2|disp=number}} || [[Tokara Islands]]
|-
| 49 || [[Hario Island]] || 33.16 || {{convert|33.16|km2|disp=number}} ||
|-
| 50 || [[Nakanoshima (Shimane)|Nakanoshima (in Shimane)]] || 32.21 || {{convert|32.21|km2|disp=number}} || [[Oki Islands]]
|}

===Northern Territories===
[[File:Demis-kurils-russian names.png|upright=1.25|thumb|The Kuril Islands, with their Russian names. The borders of the Treaty of Shimoda (1855) and the Treaty of St. Petersburg (1875) are shown in red. Currently, all islands northeast of Hokkaido are administered by Russia.]]
{{Main|Kuril Islands dispute}}
Japan has a longstanding claim to the [[Kuril Islands dispute|Southern Kuril Islands]] ([[Etorofu]], [[Kunashiri]], [[Shikotan]], and the [[Habomai Islands]]). These islands were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945.<ref>MOFA, [http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/russia/territory/index.html Japan's Northern Territories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322191810/http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/russia/territory/index.html |date=2011-03-22 }}</ref> The [[Kuril Islands]] historically belonged to Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Mark R. |title=The Cambridge History of Japan Vol. 6 |chapter=Chapter 5 – The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895–1945 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1988 |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-22352-0}}</ref> The Kuril Islands were first inhabited by the [[Ainu people]] and then controlled by the Japanese [[Matsumae clan]] in the [[Edo Period]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Kuril Islands |first=John J |last=Stephan |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |year=1974 |pages=50–56}}</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]].