A Pacific Island Country
Japan is an island country forming an arc in
the Pacific Ocean to the east of the Asian
continent. The land comprises four large
islands named (in decreasing order of size)
Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku,
together with many smaller islands. The
Pacific Ocean lies to the east while the Sea of
Japan and the East China Sea separate
Japan from the Asian continent.
In terms of latitude, Japan coincides
approximately with the Mediterranean Sea
and with the city of Los Angeles in North
America. Paris and London have latitudes
somewhat to the north of the northern tip of
Hokkaido.
Japan’s total land area is about 378,000
square kilometers. It is thus approximately the
same size as Germany, Finland, Vietnam, or
Malaysia. It is only 1/25 the size of the United
States and is smaller than the state of
California.
Japan’s coastline is quite varied. In some
places, such as Kujukurihama in Chiba
Prefecture, there are long sandy beaches
continuing fairly straight and uninterrrupted for
60 kilometers or so, while the coast of
Nagasaki Prefecture is an example of an area
Geography
Web Japan
http://web-japan.org/
GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
A country of diverse topography and climate
characterized by peninsulas and inlets and
offshore islands (like the Goto archipelago
and the islands of Tsushima and Iki, which
are part of that prefecture). There are also
accidented areas of the coast with many
inlets and steep cliffs caused by the
submersion of part of the former coastline due
to changes in the Earth’s crust.
A warm ocean current known as the
Kuroshio (or Japan Current) flows
northeastward along the southern part of the
Japanese archipelago, and a branch of it,
known as the Tsushima Current, flows into
the Sea of Japan along the west side of the
country. From the north, a cold current known
as the Oyashio (or Chishima Current) flows
south along Japan’s east coast, and a branch
of it, called the Liman Current, enters the Sea
of Japan from the north. The mixing of these
warm and cold currents helps produce
abundant fish resources in waters near Japan.
A Land of hot springs and attractive
scenary
About three-fourths of Japan’s land surface is
mountainous. The Chubu Region of central
Honshu is known as “the roof of Japan” and
has many mountains which are more than
3,000 meters high.
Japan’s highest mountain is Mt. Fuji
(3,776 meters) on the border of Yamanashi
and Shizuoka prefectures. Japan’s secondhighest
peak is Kitadake in Yamanashi
Prefecture, at 3,192 meters, and its thirdhighest
peak is Hotakadake at 3,190 meters,
on the border between Nagano and Gifu
prefectures.
Mt. Fuji
Japan’s highest peak, Mt. Fuji, is seen
here from Lake Kawaguchi in April. It
remains covered in snow until June.
1 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
mountains of the Chubu region through
Niigata Prefecture to the Sea of Japan.
Second in length is the Tone River, which
flows through the Kanto Plain to the Pacific
Ocean, and third in length is the Ishikari River
in Hokkaido, at 268 kilometers.
The many rivers descending from
mountainous areas have done much to mold
Japan’s topography, creating large and small
valleys and basins and producing fan-shaped
deltas near the points where they flow into the
sea. Most of the country’s plains are small.
The largest is the Kanto Plain, which includes
parts of Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Saitama,
Chiba, Tokyo, and Kanagawa prefectures.
Other relatively large areas of flat land are the
Echigo Plain (Niigata Prefecture), the Ishikari
Plain (Hokkaido), and the Nobi Plain (Aichi
and Gifu prefectures).
A major feature of Japan’s climate is the
clear-cut temperature changes between the
four seasons. From north to south, Japan
covers a range of latitude of some 25 degrees
and is influenced in the winter by seasonal
winds blowing from Siberia and in the
summer by seasonal winds blowing from the
Pacific Ocean. In spite of its rather small area,
Japan is characterized by four different
climatic patterns.
Hokkaido, with a subarctic weather
pattern, has a yearly average temperature of
eight degrees centigrade and receives an
average annual precipitation of 1,150
millimeters. The Pacific Ocean side of Japan,
from the Tohoku region of northern Honshu to
Kyushu, belongs to the temperate zone, and
its summers are hot, influenced by seasonal
winds from the Pacific. The side of the
country which faces the Sea of Japan has a
climate with much rain and snow, produced
when cold, moisture-bearing seasonal winds
from the continent are stopped in their
advance by the Central Alps and other
mountains which run along Japan’s center
like a backbone. The southwestern islands of
Okinawa Prefecture belong to the subtropical
climate zone and have a yearly average
temperate of over 22 degrees, while receiving
over 2,000 millimeters of precipitation.
As it is situated along the circum-Pacific
volcanic belt, Japan has several volcanic
regions—usually considered to number seven
—from the far north to the far south. Of the
total number of volcanoes, approximately 80
are active, including Mt. Mihara on Izu
Oshima island, Mt. Asama on the border
between Nagano and Gunma Prefectures,
and Mt. Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture. Japan
has almost 1/10 of the world’s approximately
840 active volcanoes, even though it has only
about l/400 of the world’s land area. Mt. Fuji,
which has been dormant since its last
eruption in 1707, is by no means incapable of
erupting again in our lifetimes.
Though volcanoes can cause great harm
through large eruptions, they also contribute
an incalculable tourist resource. Touristic
areas such as Nikko, Hakone, and the Izu
Peninsula, for example, are famous for their
hot springs and attractive scenery of volcanic
mountains.
As all these volcanoes attest, the Earth’s
crust beneath the Japanese archipelago is
unstable and full of energy. Thus Japan is
among those countries most likely to suffer
from earthquakes. Every year there are
approximately 1,000 earthquakes which are
strong enough to be felt. In January 1995, the
Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake killed
approximately 6,000 people, injured over
40,000, and left 200,000 homeless. An
earthquake in Niigata Prefecture in October
2004 left over 60 people dead and more than
4,700 injured. In March 2011, a magnitude 9
earthquake was recorded off the coast of
Sanriku (Tohoku) in the Pacific Ocean, and
the ensuing tsunami, more than 10m high in
places, hit the coast across a vast region from
Tohoku to Kanto. The number of dead and
missing after the earthquake and tsunami
reached nearly 19,000.
Fast-Flowing Rivers
Mountainous Japan is blessed with many
rivers. Most of Japan’s rivers flow very fast,
their waters reaching the ocean not long after
leaving mountain valleys and basins. An
example of the “steepness” of river flows is
the Kurobe River, which joins the Sea of
Japan after flowing only 83 kilometers from its
source in the Japan Alps at an altitude of over
2,900 meters.
Japan’s longest river is the Shinano River,
which flows 367 kilometers from the
Climate
2 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Spring (March, April, May)
When winter nears its end, the cold seasonal
winds blowing from the continent become
weaker and more intermittent. At this time,
low pressure air masses originating in China
enter the Sea of Japan; these give rise to
strong, warm southerly winds which travel
toward this low-pressure zone from the
Pacific Ocean. The first of these winds is
called haru ichiban. While it announces the
warmth of the coming spring, it sometimes
causes avalanches and, crossing the
mountains to the side of the country facing
the Sea of Japan, it is at times responsible for
exceptionally hot and dry weather and can
even become the cause of large fires.
In early spring, plum blossoms start to
bloom, followed by peach blossoms. During
the last ten days or so of March, the cherry
blossoms so beloved by the Japanese people
begin to bloom.
Summer (June, July, August)
Before the arrival of real summerlike weather,
Japan has a damp rainy season known as
tsuyu. From May until July, there is a highpressure
mass of cold air above the Sea of
Okhotsk to the north of Japan, while over the
Pacific Ocean there develops a high-pressure
mass of warm, moist air. Along the line where
these cold and warm air masses meet, known
as the baiu zensen, or “rainy season front,”
there often develop areas of low-pressure
warm air. Thus the baiu zensen, which
extends from southern China over the
Japanese archipelago, causes prolonged
periods of continuous rainfall.
After the middle of July, high-pressure air
masses over the Pacific Ocean become
predominant and the rainy season comes to
an end as the baiu zensen is pushed
northward. Seasonal winds from the Pacific
Ocean bring warm, moist air to Japan, and
the country has hot summer weather with
many days when temperatures rise to more
than 30 degrees centigrade.
Cherry blossoms
Cherry blossoms—the symbol of
spring in Japan.
Firework displays
Firework displays like
this one are an essential
part of the Japanese
summer.
Autumn (September, October, November)
From the end of summer through September,
Japan is often struck by typhoons. Typhoons
originate from large masses of tropical lowpressure
air in the North Pacific between the
latitudes of approximately 5 and 20 degrees,
and are the same phenomenon as hurricanes
and cyclones in other parts of the world.
When a typhoon begins to take shape, it
gradually moves north. Every year, during this
period, around 30 typhoons form, of which on
the average about 4 reach Japan, sometimes
causing great destruction.
After the middle or latter part of October,
Japan enjoys generally clear weather; it is
neither hot nor cold. The country also enjoys
especially fine weather at the beginning of
November. Many of the trees take on bright
autumn colors, making this time of the year,
together with the time of new greenery in the
spring, a truly beautiful season.
Winter (December, January, February)
Toward the end of November, cold seasonal
winds begin blowing over Japan from the
continent. These northwesterly winds pick up
moisture over the Sea of Japan and drop
much of this moisture in the form of rain and
snow on the western side of Japan as they
are impeded in their eastern advance by the
ridge of mountains that runs through the
central part of the country. The Hokuriku
region (Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama, and Niigata
prefectures), which faces the Sea of Japan
3 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Autumn leaves
Colorful foliage is the symbol of autumn
throughout Japan.
Cherry blossoms
Cherry blossoms—the symbol of
spring in Japan.
Shirakawa-go in Winter
The gassho-zukuri style farmhouses of
Shirakawa village in Gifu Prefecture were
inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage
List in 1995. (Photo courtesy of AFLO)
and is separated from other regions of Japan
by high mountains, is known for its deep
snows.
By contrast, the Pacific side of the country
enjoys generally clear skies during the winter
season. In Tokyo, despite the fair skies,
winter temperatures average around 5
degrees, a difference of 25 degrees from
summer temperatures of 30 degrees or more.
The islands of Okinawa Prefecture in the
far southwest have a subtropical climate with
less marked temperature differences between
the seasons. Winter temperatures there are
much more moderate than in other parts of
the country.
3 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
3 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE