Japan
is home to nine forest Ecoregions, which reflect the climate and geography
of the islands. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in
the Ryukyu and Bonin islands, to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to temperate coniferous
forests in the cold winter portions of northern islands.
Japan is commonly divided into regions. Japan consists of four main islands
and many smaller islands, notably Okinawa. Honshu, by far the largest and
most populated island, is typically divided into five (or more) regions.
The other islands are not divided into sub-regions in this section, so
they will constitute one region each. From north to south, these are
Hokkaido - major cities are Sapporo and Hakodate.
Tohoku - northeastern Honshu in which Sendai and Fukushima are large cities.
Kanto - coastal plain including Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama, and Yokosuka.
Also includes Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tochigi and Ibaraki Prefectures.
Chubu - mountainous middle region dominated by the Japan Alps and Japan's
fourth-largest city Nagoya. The Sea of Japan side is called Hokuriku region,
and the Pacific side is called Tokai region. A main city of Hokuriku is
Niigata and Kanazawa, and a main city of Tokai is Nagoya and Shizuoka.
Kinki - sometimes called Kansai region, ancient center of culture and commerce,
including Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama and Shiga. Kinki means near
the capital.
Chugoku - includes the cities Hiroshima and Okayama.
Shikoku - the smallest of the main four islands, known as a destination
for Buddhist pilgrims. The main cities are Matsuyama and Takamatsu.
Kyushu - southernmost of the four main islands. The main towns include
Fukuoka, Kitakyushu and Nagasaki
Okinawa - semitropical southern island chain reaching out to Taiwan. The
only major city is Naha.
Prefectures
The Local Government Law of Japan divides the country into 47 prefectures,
which carry out administrative duties independently of the central
government. From north to south those are as follows:
Japan has outstanding territorial disputes over the southern four islands of
the Kuril Islands, administered by Russia, as well as the Liancourt Rocks (Kr.
Dokdo, Jp. Takeshima), administered by South Korea. The Senkaku Islands (Chinese
Diaoyutai) are claimed by the People's Republic of China. Some analysts report
that Japan's dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands is motivated by the abundance
of petroleum in the exclusive economic zone surrounding the small islands. In
1969, a report by the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE)
indicated the possibility of large reserves of oil in the vicinity of the Diaoyutai
Archipelago.
Japan
is home to nine forest Ecoregions, which reflect the climate and geography
of the islands. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in
the Ryukyu and Bonin islands, to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to temperate coniferous
forests in the cold winter portions of northern islands.
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