Japanese archipelago
A satellite image of the main archipelago (Ryukyu Islands and South Kuril Islands not pictured) | |
Interactive map of Japanese Archipelago | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36°N 138°E / 36°N 138°E |
| Area | 377,975 km2 (145,937 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
Japan | |
| Japanese archipelago | |||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 日本列島 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 日本列岛 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Japanese archipelago | ||||||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||||||
| Hangul | 일본열도 | ||||||||||
| Hanja | 日本列島 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Japanese archipelago | ||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||
| Kyūjitai | 日本列島 | ||||||||||
| Shinjitai | 日本列島 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Japanese archipelago | ||||||||||
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The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, Hepburn: Nippon/Nihon Rettō; Japanese pronunciation: [ɲip.pon/ɲi.hon ɾeꜜt.toː]) is an archipelago of 14,125 islands that constitute the sovereign state of Japan. It spans over 3,000 km (1,900 mi) from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China and Philippine seas in the southwest along the Pacific coast of the Eurasian continent, and consists of three island arcs from north to south: the Northeastern Japan Arc, the Southwestern Japan Arc, and the Ryukyu Island Arc. The Daitō Islands, the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc, and the Kuril Islands neighbor the archipelago.
Japan is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth-largest island country in the world with 377,975.24 km2 (145,937.06 sq mi). It has an exclusive economic zone of 4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 mi2).