Portal:Japan/Geography

Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Main   Geography   Projects Japan is an island nation in East Asia comprising a large stratovolcanic archipelago extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. The country is north-northeast of China and Taiwan (separated by the East China Sea) and slightly east of Korea (separated by the Sea of Japan). Its primary islands are Hokkaidō, Honshū (the "mainland"), Shikoku and Kyūshū. There are also about 3,000 smaller islands, including Okinawa, some inhabited and others uninhabited. In total, as of 2006, Japan's territory is 377,923.1 km², of which 374,834 km² is land and 3,091 km² water. About 75% of Japan is mountainous, with a mountain range running through each of the main islands. Japan's highest mountain is Mt. Fuji, with an elevation of 3776 m (12,388 ft). 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 as an economic capital by the leisure industry. Scattered plains and basins (in which the population is concentrated) cover only about 25% of the nation. The largest, the Kanto Plain, where Tokyo is situated, covers only 13,000 square kilometers. Rivers are generally steep and swift, and few are suitable for navigation except in their lower reaches. Most are fewer than 300 kilometers in length, but their rapid flow from the mountains makes them more than suitable for generating hydroelectric power. Japan is informally divided into eight regions. Most regions contains several prefectures (the exception being Hokkaidō) for a total of 47. Within these prefectures, there exist many local administrative units that are categorized into designated cities (17), core cities (37), special cities (44), cities, towns and villages depending on the unit's population size. Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture located in the Kinki region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area. Osaka Prefecture was created in 1868, at the beginning of Meiji era. Osaka Prefecture neighbors the prefectures of Hyōgo and Kyoto in the north, Nara in the east and Wakayama in the south. The west is open to Osaka Bay. The Yodo and Yamato Rivers flow through the prefecture. Prior to the construction of Kansai International Airport, Osaka was the smallest prefecture in Japan. The artificial island on which the airport was built added enough area to make it slightly larger than Kagawa prefecture. The gross prefecture product of Osaka for the fiscal year 2004 was ¥38.7 trillion, second after Tokyo with an increase of 0.9% from the previous year. This represented approximately 48% of the Kinki region. The per capita income was ¥3.0 million, seventh in the nation. Overshadowed by such globally renowned electronics giants as Matsushita and Sharp, the other side of Osaka's economy can be characterized by its Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) activities. The number of SMEs based in Osaka in 2006 was 330,737, accounting for 99.6% of the total number of businesses in the prefecture. While this proportion is similar to other prefectures (the average nationwide was 99.7%), the manufactured output of the SMEs amounted to 65.4% of the total within the prefecture, a rate significantly higher than Tokyo's 55.5%, or Kanagawa's 38.4%. Islands of Japan   Kuril Islands   Awaji Island   Kyūshū   Hokkaidō   Shikoku   Okinawa Island   Honshū   Hokkaidō Hokkaidō   Tōhoku Aomori Iwate Miyagi Akita Yamagata Fukushima   Kantō Ibaraki Tochigi Gunma Saitama Chiba Tokyo Kanagawa   Chūbu Niigata Toyama Ishikawa Fukui Yamanashi Nagano Gifu Shizuoka Aichi 500px   Kansai Mie Shiga Kyoto Osaka Hyōgo Nara Wakayama   Chūgoku Tottori Shimane Okayama Hiroshima Yamaguchi   Shikoku Tokushima Kagawa Ehime Kōchi   Kyūshū & Okinawa Fukuoka Saga Nagasaki Kumamoto Ōita Miyazaki Kagoshima Okinawa More about the Prefectures of Japan... What are portals? List of portals Featured portals