Where and What is Japan?
Japan is a chain of islands located in the Pacific Ocean that lies east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia. Japan is an East Asian country known as the "Land of the Rising Sun" because it is the first country to see the sun rise. also known as an archipelago, Japan has four main islands, Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. Japan's capital city is Tokyo, the largest metropolitan area in the world. Japan lies 36 00 N and longitude.
Japan's Geography
Japan has a total of about 6,852 islands along the Pacific Ocean and a total land area of about 378,00 sq. km., about 1 25th of the United States. 73% of Japan is made up of mountains and forests, making it unfit for agriculture.
Because of this and climate reasons, most of Japans coastal lying areas are densely populated. Central Honshu's Chubu Region has mountains exceeding the height of 3,000, naming it the "roof of Japan". The islands of Japan, like most islands lying in the Pacific are located in an area of the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity occurs often, called the Ring of Fire. Before, the country was connected to Eurasia. But because of plate activity, Japan was separated from Eurasia and the Sea of Japan was formed nearly 15 million years ago. The two seas west of Japan are the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, which separate the two countries.
Because of this and climate reasons, most of Japans coastal lying areas are densely populated. Central Honshu's Chubu Region has mountains exceeding the height of 3,000, naming it the "roof of Japan". The islands of Japan, like most islands lying in the Pacific are located in an area of the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity occurs often, called the Ring of Fire. Before, the country was connected to Eurasia. But because of plate activity, Japan was separated from Eurasia and the Sea of Japan was formed nearly 15 million years ago. The two seas west of Japan are the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, which separate the two countries.
Volcanoes
In Japan, there are 108 active volcanoes, including the famous Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan is 3,776 meters and borders the Yamanashi and Shizuika Prefectures. Mt. Fuji isnt considered a dormant volcanoe, even though it hasn't erupted since 1707 and could erupt any time. 7 of the mountainous regions of Japan are considered volcanic, because Japan is located along the Pacific volcanic belt. Japan has almost 1 tenth of all the 840 active volcanoes in the world. Because of instability in the Earth's crust below the volcanoes, Japan experiences more than 1,000 earthquakes
Major Bodies of Water
Japan is surrounded by two major bodies of water, the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by China, Japan, N & S Korea, and Russia. It has almost no tides due to complete enclosure from the Pacific Ocean. The Sea of Japan was once landlocked when the land bridge of East Asia existed.