Japanese archipelago

Topographic map of Japan

Satellite image of Japan

The Japanese archipelago (日本列島, Nihon Rettō), which forms the country of Japan, extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean. It is composed of islands from the Sakhalin island arc and the Northeastern Japan arc.

The term Home Islands was used at the end of World War II to define the area of Japan to which its sovereignty and the constitutional rule of the Emperor would be restricted. The term is also commonly used today to distinguish the archipelago from Japan's colonies and other territories in the first half of the 20th century, but is not used in reference to the country as it exists today.

Island components

The archipelago consists of 6,852 islands ("island" defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), of which 430 are inhabited. The four main islands, listed in descending order from north to south, are:

1. Hokkaidō Island
2. Honshū Island
3. Shikoku Island
4. Kyūshū Island

Palaeogeography

Main articles: Sea of Japan#Geography and geology and Japanese Paleolithic

Changes to the Japanese archipelago over time:

Japanese archipelago, Sea of Japan and surrounding part of continental East Asia in Early Miocene (23-18 Ma).

Japanese archipelago, Sea of Japan and surrounding part of continental East Asia in Middle Pliocene to Late Pliocene (3.5-2 Ma)..

Japanese archipelago at the Last Glacial Maximum in the Late Pleistocene about 20,000 years ago

	– regions above sea level
	(white color) – unvegetated
	– sea

black outline indicates present-day Japan

See also

• Geography of Japan
• List of islands of Japan

External links

37°30′52″N 137°42′44″E center of mass