| Location | Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula |
| Geographic coordinates | 36 00 N, 138 00 E |
| Map references | Asia |
| Area | total: 377,915 sq km land: 364,485 sq km water: 13,430 sq km note: includes Bonin Islands (Ogasawara-gunto), Daito-shoto, Minami-jima, Okino-tori-shima, Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shoto), and Volcano Islands (Kazan-retto) |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than California |
| Land boundaries | total: 0 km |
| Coastline | 29,751 km |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm; between 3 nm and 12 nm in the international straits - La Perouse or Soya, Tsugaru, Osumi, and Eastern and Western Channels of the Korea or Tsushima Strait contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
| Climate | varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north |
| Terrain | mostly rugged and mountainous |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Mount Fuji 3,776 m lowest point: Hachiro-gata -4 m mean elevation: 438 m |
| Natural resources | negligible mineral resources, fish, note, with virtually no natural energy resources, Japan is the world's largest importer of coal and liquefied natural gas, as well as the second largest importer of oil |
| Land use | agricultural land: 12.5% (2018 est.) arable land: 11.7% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0.8% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 0% (2018 est.) forest: 68.5% (2018 est.) other: 19% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 24,690 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 430 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | many dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1,500 seismic occurrences (mostly tremors but occasional severe earthquakes) every year; tsunamis; typhoons volcanism: both Unzen (1,500 m) and Sakura-jima (1,117 m), which lies near the densely populated city of Kagoshima, have been deemed Decade Volcanoes by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to their explosive history and close proximity to human populations; other notable historically active volcanoes include Asama, Honshu Island's most active volcano, Aso, Bandai, Fuji, Iwo-Jima, Kikai, Kirishima, Komaga-take, Oshima, Suwanosejima, Tokachi, Yake-dake, and Usu; see note 2 under "Geography - note" |
| Geography - note | note 1: strategic location in northeast Asia; composed of four main islands - from north: Hokkaido, Honshu (the largest and most populous), Shikoku, and Kyushu (the "Home Islands") - and 6,848 smaller islands and islets note 2: Japan annually records the most earthquakes in the world; it is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
