GeographyJapan is located on a chain of islands called an archipelago. It is made up of four main islands and thousands of smaller ones. The terrain is mountainous, which means there is not a lot of good land for farming. Because of the geography, the Japanese relied on the sea for many aspects of daily life.
Japan is an archipelagic country comprising a stratovolcanic archipelago over 3,000 km (1,900 mi) along the Pacific coast of East Asia. It consists of 14,125 islands. The five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Okinawa. The other 14,120 islands are classified as "remote islands" by the Japanese government. The Ryukyu Islands and Nanp? Islands are south and east of the main islands.
The territory covers 377,973.89 km2 (145,936.53 sq mi). It is the fourth largest island country in the world and the largest island country in East Asia. The country has the 6th longest coastline at 29,751 km (18,486 mi) and the 8th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 sq mi) in the world.