Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
"Mainland Japan" (内地, naichi, lit. "inner lands") is a term used to distinguish Japan's core land area from its outlying territories. It is most commonly used to distinguish the country's four largest islands (Hokkaidō, Honshū, Kyūshū, and Shikokū) from smaller islands such as the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands.
Honshu is Japan's largest island, where over 100 million people live in an area one-sixth the size of France. The landscape is the most extreme of approximately 6800 Japanese islands, with some of the coldest and snowiest places in the whole of Japan in the north around Aomori or in the central Japanese 'Alps'.
In 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0–9.1 occurred off the coast of Honshu, generating tsunami waves up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) high and killing 19,747. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan , and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900.
Honshu – the largest and most populous island, with the capital Tokyo. Honshu is connected to the other three main islands by bridges and tunnels. Kyushu – the third largest main island, second most populous and the nearest to the Asian continent. Shikoku – the smallest and least populous main island, located between Honshu and Kyushu.
The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and thousands of smaller islands, covering 377,975 square kilometres (145,937 sq mi). Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the eleventh-most populous country.
The archipelago consists of 14,125 islands [1] (here defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), of which 430 are inhabited. [8] The five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. [6] Honshu is the largest and referred to as the Japanese mainland. [9] The topography is divided as:
Shikoku (四国, Shikoku, pronounced ⓘ, lit. ' four provinces ') is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is 225 kilometres (140 miles) long and between 50 and 150 kilometres (30 and 95 miles) at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands.
Hokkaido; Honshu; Kyushu; Shikoku; Major regions of Japan include: Hokkaido (the island of Hokkaido and nearby islands, largest city Sapporo) Tōhoku region (northern Honshu, largest city Sendai) Kantō region (eastern Honshu, largest cities Tokyo and Yokohama) Nanpō Islands: part of Tokyo Metropolis