List of islands of Japan
Japan has 6,852 islands. Approximately 430 are inhabited.[1][2] Japan is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth largest island country in the world.[3]
Main islands
The five main islands of Japan are:[4][5]
- Hokkaido - the northernmost and second largest main island.
- Honshu - the largest and most populous island with the capital Tokyo.
- Kyushu - the third largest main island and nearest to the Asian continent.
- Shikoku - the second smallest main island after Okinawa. It is between Honshu and Kyushu.
- Okinawa - the smallest and southernmost of the main islands.
Remote islands of Japan
Aside from the five main islands, there are 6,847 smaller islands called 'remote islands'.[4] These are notable remote islands of Japan.
Hokkaido prefecture
- Kamley Island
- Coco Island (Oshima)
- Ōshima
- Okushiri Island
- Teuri Island
- Rebun Island
- Tornado Island
- Rishiri Island[6]
- Yagishiri Island
- Kamome island
Islands of Honshu in the Sea of Japan
- Oki Islands (Oki Islands)[7]
Islands in Tokyo Bay (artificial islands)
- Dream Island (Yume No Shima)
- Odaiba
- Sarushima (natural)
- Jonan Island ja:城南島
- Heiwa Island ja:平和島
- Showa Island ja:昭和島
- Keihin Island ja:京浜島
- Tokyo International Airport
- Katsushima ja:勝島
- Hakkeijima ja:横浜・八景島シーパラダイス
- Higashi Ogijima ja:東扇島
- Wakasu
- Oogishima, ja:扇島
Islands in Osaka Bay (artificial islands)
- Maishima, ja:舞洲
- Yumeshima
- Sakishima, ja:咲洲
- Kansai International Airport
- Kobe Airport
- Port Island
- Rokkō Island
- Minami Ashiyahama, ja:南芦屋浜
- Wakayama Marina City ja:和歌山マリーナシティ
- Nishinomiyahama ja:西宮浜
Islands in Ise Bay
Islands in Mutsu Bay
- Ōshima
- Tajima ja:鯛島 (青森県)
Nanpō Islands (Nanpō Shotō)
- Kazan Rettō (Volcano Islands)
- Nishinoshima
- Kita Iwo Jima (North Iwo Jima)
- Iwo Jima[14]
- Minami Iwo Jima (South Iwo Jima)
Other Japanese islands
- Minami Torishima (Marcus Island)
- Enoshima
- Okino Torishima (Parece Vela)
Islands around Kyushu
Most of these are located in the East China Sea.
Islands around Shikoku
Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shotō)
Satsunan Islands
The northern half is administratively part of Kagoshima Prefecture and Kyushu.
Ōsumi Islands
The North-Eastern Group:
The North-Western Group:
- Takeshima
- Iōjima
- Shōwa Iōjima
- Kuroshima
Tokara Islands
The Shichi-tō:
Ryukyu Islands (Ryūkyū-shotō)
The Southern Half, Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawa Islands
The Central Group or Ryukyu proper:
- Okinawa Island[7]
- Kumejima
- Iheyajima
- Izenajima
- Agunijima
- Iejima
- Iwo Tori Shima (Iōtorishima) [16]
- Kerama Islands
- Daitō Islands
- Kitadaitojima
- Mimamidaitōjima
- Okidaitōjima
Sakishima Islands
Also known as the Further Isles:
Seto Inland Sea islands
- Kasaoka Islands
- Takashima Island (Okayama) 高島 (岡山県笠岡市)
- Shiraishi Island
- Kitagi Island, 北木島
- Obishi Island, 大飛島
- Kobi Island, 小飛島
- Manabeshima, 真鍋島
- Mushima Island (Okayama), 六島 (岡山県)
- Shiwaku Islands
- Awaji[8]
- Etajima
- Kurahashi-jima
- Inujima
- Itsukushima (popularly known as "Miyajima")
- Shōdoshima
- Naoshima Islands
- Suō-Ōshima, Yamaguchi
- Himeshima, Ōita
- Aoshima, Ehime
- Hashira Island
- Okamura Island
- Ōshima (Ehime)
- Mukaishima Island, Hiroshima
- Ōmishima Island, Ehime
Islands in lakes
- Daikon-island
- Bentenjima in Lake Tōya
- Bentenjima in Lake Hamana
Other artificial islands
- Chūbu Centrair International Airport
- Dejima[7]
- New Kitakyushu Airport
- Midori No Shima, off Hakodate, ja:緑の島 (artificial)
- Malimpia Okinosu ja:マリンピア沖洲 (artificial)
- Wakaejima ja:和賀江島 (artificial)
- Island City, Fukuoka ja:アイランドシティ (artificial)
Claims but does not control
The Northern Territories
There are four disputed Kuril Islands that are claimed by Japan. These islands are called the Chishima Islands.[17]
- Iturup - Etorofu (択捉島 Etorofu-tō)
- Kunashir - Kunashiri (国後島 Kunashiri-tō)
- Shikotan - Shikotan (色丹島 Shikotan-tō)
- Habomai Islands - Habomai (歯舞群島 Habomai guntō)
Others
- Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takeshima) - controlled by South Korea
Largest islands of Japan
These are the 50 largest islands of Japan. It excludes the disputed Kuril islands known as the northern territories.
See also
References
- Look Japan, Vol. 43, Issues 493-504, p. 35; retrieved 2013-3-2.
- "離島とは(島の基礎知識)" (in Japanese). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original (website) on November 13, 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- "Island Countries Of The World". WorldAtlas.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
- "離島とは(島の基礎知識) (what is a remote island?)". MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) (in Japanese). Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 22 August 2015. Archived from the original (website) on 2007-07-13. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
MILT classification 6,852 islands(main islands: 5 islands, remote islands: 6,847 islands)
- Imperial Japanese Commission to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. (1903). Japan in the Beginning of the 20th century (Haruki Yamawaki, editor), p. 2.
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Rishiri-tō" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 791.
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1962). Sovereign and Subject, p. 332.
- Ponsonby-Fane, p. 331.
- Nussbaum, "Izu Shotō" at p. 412.
- Gotoh, H. et al. (2010). "Infrastructure Maintenance and Disaster Prevention Measures on Isolated Islands: the Case of the Izu Islands near Tokyo" in Island Sustainability (Favro, S., editor), p. 187.
- Nussbaum, p. 412; Ponsonby-Fane, p. 332.
- Nussbaum, "Ōshima" at p. 761.
- Nussbaum, "Torishima" at p. 987.
- Nussbaum, "Ogasawara Guntō" at p. 737.
- Nussbaum, "Hashima" at p. 294.
- Imperial Japanese Commission, p. 3.