The Japan Alps - Spreading over central Honshu in the Chubu District, the Japan Alps are among Japan's most famous mountain ranges, especially since hosting the 1998 XVIII Winter Olympics in Nagano. It's popular for skiing and hiking, for quaint mountain villages such as Takayama and Shirakawa-go, and for tourist attractions that include the open-air Museum Meiji Mura (near Nagoya), the castle in Matsumoto, and Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, considered one of Japan's finest. The district features mountain ranges (including the Japan Alps), volcanoes (including Mount Fuji), large rivers, and coastal regions on both sides of the island. Nagoya, Japan's fourth-largest city and home to an international airport nicknamed Centrair, is Chubu's most important city and a gateway to its other destinations. Since the 1994 opening of Kansai International Airport outside Osaka, many foreign visitors opt to bypass Tokyo altogether in favor of Kansai's many historic spots, including Mount Koya with its many temples, Himeji with what I consider to be Japan's most beautiful castle, Ise-Shima National Park with Japan's most revered Shinto shrine, Nara with its Great Buddha and temples, and, of course, Kyoto, the former capital for more than 1,000 years with so many temples, imperial villas, and gardens that it ranks as Japan's foremost tourist destination.Ĭhubu District - The Chubu District lies between Tokyo and Kyoto and straddles central Honshu from the Pacific Ocean to the Japan Sea, encompassing nine prefectures. Nara and Kyoto - two of Japan's ancient capitals - are here, as are two of Japan's most important port cities, Kobe and Osaka. Kansai District - Also called the Kinki District and encompassing seven prefectures, this is Japan's most historic region. For this island nation - isolated physically from the rest of the world, struck repeatedly through the centuries by earthquakes, fires, and typhoons, and possessed of only limited space for harmonious living - geography and topography have played major roles both in determining its development and in shaping its culture, customs, and arts. population living in California - primarily in San Diego County - and you get an idea of how crowded Japan is. And because three-fourths of Japan is mountainous and therefore uninhabitable, its people are concentrated primarily in only 10% of the country's landmass, with the rest of the area devoted to agriculture. Japan's total landmass is slightly smaller than California in area, yet Japan has 41% the population of the United States. state or the British county, though prefectures vary greatly in size (greater Tokyo is one prefecture all of Hokkaido is another). Each prefecture has its own prefectural capital and is comparable to the U.S. Japan is divided into 47 regional divisions, or prefectures. In the 20th century, the two most destructive earthquakes were the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which killed more than 100,000 people in the Tokyo area, and the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, which claimed more than 6,000 lives in Kobe. Because of its volcanic origins, earthquakes have plagued Japan throughout its history. Mount Fuji (on Honshu), dormant since 1707, is Japan's highest and most famous volcano, while Mount Aso (on Kyushu) boasts the largest caldera in the world. Altogether, there are some 265 volcanoes, more than 30 of them still considered active. They are found on all four main islands and most are volcanic in origin. Honshu, Japan's most populous island and home to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, is connected to the other three islands by tunnel or bridge, which means you can travel to all four islands by train.Īs much as 70% of Japan consists of mountains. If you were to superimpose Japan's four main islands onto a map of the United States, they would stretch all the way from Boston to Atlanta, which should give you an idea of the diversity of Japan's climate, flora, and scenery - Hokkaido in the north is subarctic, while Kyushu is subtropical. Far to the southwest are the Okinawan islands, perhaps best known for the fierce fighting that took place there during World War II and for their continued (and controversial) use as an American military base. Surrounding these large islands are more than 6,000 smaller, mostly uninhabited islands and islets. Japan consists primarily of four main islands - Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Separated from mainland China and Korea by the Sea of Japan, the nation of Japan stretches in an arc about 2,900km (1,800 miles) long from northeast to southwest, yet it is only 403km (250 miles) wide at its broadest point.
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