Japanese Archipelago

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Context

• The Japanese archipelago, one of the world’s prominent island groups that lies just off the coast of Eurasia, now has 14,125 islands, according to the Japanese government. This is double the 6,852 islands that was the official figure way back in 1987.

Japanese Archipelago

• The Japanese archipelagois a group of 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan.
• It extends over 3,000 km from the Sea of Okhotskin the northeast to the East China and Philippine Seas in the southwest along the Pacific Ocean coast of the Eurasian continent, and consists of three island arcs from north to south: the Northeastern and Southwestern Japan Arcs, and the Ryukyu Island Arc. The Kuril Island Arc, the Daitō Islands, and the Nanpō Islands are not parts of the archipelago.
• The archipelago consists of 14,125 islands. The five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Honshu is the largest and referred to as the Japanese mainland.

The topography is divided as:

• Hokkaido, Honshu, and Shikoku and its surrounding islands;
• Kyushu and the Ryukyu arc, which is composed of the Ryukyu Islands and other surrounding islands;
• Eastern part of Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands;
• Nanpō Islands and the Izu Peninsula (part of Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc).

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/world/the-japanese-archipelago-now-has-double-the-islands-from-1987-here-is-why-87776