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Location of Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia that includes over 3,000 islands,¹ the largest of which are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of its land area. Japan lies in the Pacific Ocean to the east of China, Korea and Russia, stretching of the Sea of Okhotsk in the north and the East China Sea in the south to Taiwan. Japan is a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament (the Diet).

Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents. A world leader in technology and machinery, Japan has the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP, is the world's fourth largest exporter and is the sixth largest importer.

The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

The following topic outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Japan:

Japan portal


Flag of Japan		Imperial Seal of Japan

Tokyo, Japan

Map of Japan, showing surrounding seas and neighbors.

1 General reference
2 Geography of Japan
3 Government and politics of Japan
4 History of Japan
- 4.1 By period
5 Culture of Japan
6 Economy of Japan
7 Education in Japan
- 7.1 Structure of education in Japan
8 Infrastructure of Japan
9 Science and technology in Japan
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

General reference

Geography of Japan

Satellite photo of Japan.

Main articles: Geography of Japan

Japan is: an island country of over 3,000 islands
Location:
Population of Japan: 127,433,494 people - 10th most populous country
Area of Japan: 377,873 km² (145,898 sq mi) - 62nd largest country
Atlas of Japan
Addressing system in Japan
Historic provinces of Japan
Japan Standard Time

Environment of Japan

Tsunami wall at Tsu, Japan

Main article: Environment of Japan

Geographic features of Japan

World Heritage Sites in Japan

Main article: Landforms of Japan

Regions of Japan

Islands of Japan

Main articles: Islands of Japan and Regions of Japan

The four main islands of Japan are:

Major regions of Japan include:

Hokkaidō (the island of Hokkaidō and nearby islands, largest city Sapporo)
Tōhoku region (northern Honshū, largest city Sendai)
Kantō region (eastern Honshū, largest cities Tokyo and Yokohama)
Chūbu region (central Honshū, including Mt. Fuji), sometimes divided into:
- Hokuriku region (northwestern Chūbu)
- Kōshin'etsu region (northeastern Chūbu, largest city Nagano)
- Tōkai region (southern Chūbu, largest city Nagoya, Hamamatsu, and Shizuoka)
Kansai or Kinki region (west-central Honshū, largest cities Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto)
Chūgoku region (western Honshū, largest city Hiroshima, and Okayama)
Shikoku (island, largest city Matsuyama, and Takamatsu)
Kyūshū (island, largest city Fukuoka) which includes:
- Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa

Ecoregions of Japan

Main article: Ecoregions of Japan

Administrative divisions of Japan

Main article: Prefectures of Japan

Administrative division types
- Regions of Japan (unofficial)
  - Prefectures of Japan
    - Subprefectures of Japan
      - Districts of Japan
        
        Municipalities of Japan
        
        Wards of Japan

Prefectures of Japan

Map of the prefectures of Japan in ISO 3166-2:JP order and the regions of Japan.

From north to south (numbering in ISO 3166-2:JP order), the prefectures of Japan and their commonly associated regions are:

Hokkaidō

1. Hokkaidō

Tōhoku

2. Aomori
3. Iwate
4. Miyagi
5. Akita
6. Yamagata
7. Fukushima

Kantō

8. Ibaraki
9. Tochigi
10. Gunma
11. Saitama
12. Chiba
13. Tokyo
14. Kanagawa

Chūbu

15. Niigata
16. Toyama
17. Ishikawa
18. Fukui
19. Yamanashi
20. Nagano
21. Gifu
22. Shizuoka
23. Aichi

Kansai

24. Mie
25. Shiga
26. Kyoto
27. Osaka
28. Hyōgo
29. Nara
30. Wakayama

Chūgoku

31. Tottori
32. Shimane
33. Okayama
34. Hiroshima
35. Yamaguchi

Shikoku

36. Tokushima
37. Kagawa
38. Ehime
39. Kōchi

Kyūshū & Okinawa

40. Fukuoka
41. Saga
42. Nagasaki
43. Kumamoto
44. Ōita
45. Miyazaki
46. Kagoshima
47. Okinawa

Karafuto, a portion of the island of Sakhalin north of Hokkaidō (not shown on the map), was part of Japan from 1907 until World War II. The entire island is now governed by Russia, but some Japanese people claim Karafuto is still part of Japan.