Japan has four main islands: Honshū, Shikoku, Hokkaidō, and Kyūshū, which make up 97% of its land area. Honshū is the largest and most populous, with major cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Kyūshū and Shikoku are mountainous, with populations of 13 million and 4 million respectively. Hokkaidō is the second largest and most rural, with a population of just 68 people per square kilometre.
Japan’s largest islands are Honshū, Shikoku, Hokkaidō, and Kyūshū, which together account for 97% of Japan’s land area. In all, Japan has over 3,000 islands. The islands of Japan have been occupied for an extremely long time, since at least 35,000 BC During the last ice age, Japan would have been relatively mild, spared the massive glaciers that covered most of Europe and Asia at the time . Today, the islands of Japan have approximately 127 million inhabitants, making this nation the tenth most populous in the world. Japan has the world’s third largest economy, behind only the United States and China.
Honshū, the country’s largest island, accounts for 61% of the land mass and is located in central Japan, between the island of Hokkaido in the north and the islands of Kyūshū and Shikoku in the south. Larger than the island of Great Britain, Honshū is 1,300 km (800 mi) long and 50 to 230 km (31 to 143 mi) wide. Honshū is a mountainous, volcanic island with a population of nearly 100 million, making it one of the most populous islands in the world. Most of the island’s population is found in the available lowlands, especially the Kantō lowlands region. Many of Japan’s most popular cities are located on the island, including Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Hiroshima.
The two main islands of Japan south of Honshū are Kyūshū and Shikoku, which make up 9% and 5% of Japan’s total land area, respectively. Kyūshū, located to the west, has a population of 13 million, while Shikoku has a population of 4 million, making it the least populous of Japan’s islands. Like Honshū, both islands are highly mountainous. Kyūshū is known for having Japan’s most active volcano, Mt. Aso (at 1,592 m or 5,223 ft), while Shikoku is known for its beautiful temples. The most important cities of Kyushu are Nagasaki and Kagoshima. The largest city in Shikoku is Matsuyama, with a population of half a million.
The last of Japan’s main islands is Hokkaidō, which makes up 22% of Japan’s land area. Hokkaidō is the second largest of Japan’s islands and among the most rural, with a population of just 68 people per square kilometre, in contrast to Honshū’s population density of 430 people per square kilometre. Hokkaidō’s natural environment makes it a popular vacation destination among the Japanese. The capital of Hokkaidō is Sapporo, recognized worldwide as the home of Sapporo beer and the host city of the 1972 Winter Olympics. Like every other island in Japan, most of the island is mountainous and most of the population it is found in the southwestern lowland regions.
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