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Japanese archipelago (view source)
Revision as of 21:21, 24 September 2013
, 21:21, 24 September 2013Created page with " The Japanese archipelago includes four major islands and many smaller ones, stretching roughly 1500 miles<ref name=brief>Shirokauer, et al., 3-5.</ref> from [[Hokkaido|Hokkai..."
The Japanese archipelago includes four major islands and many smaller ones, stretching roughly 1500 miles<ref name=brief>Shirokauer, et al., 3-5.</ref> from [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]] in the north, to the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] in the south. The four main islands of Hokkaidô, [[Honshu|Honshû]], [[Shikoku]], and [[Kyushu]] cover a total of roughly 146,000 square miles.<ref name=brief/>
The islands lie at the intersections of four tectonic plates<ref>The North American, Eurasian, Pacific, and Philippine Sea plates.</ref>, have volcanic origins, and are heavily mountainous.<ref>That is, with the exception of the Ryûkyû Island chain, which is relatively flat, close to sea level, and is composed chiefly not of volcanic soil, but of limestone, deriving from coral origins.</ref> Several of the archipelago's most famous mountains are still active volcanoes today, with [[Sakurajima]] erupting more or less constantly since 1950; [[Mt. Fuji]] is also considered active, though it has not erupted since [[1708]]. The islands are also one of the chief centers of earthquake activity in the world.
The mountains leave only roughly 13 percent of the islands' land area as fertile plains,<ref name=brief/> and a considerable portion of the country's population, and political, cultural, and agricultural activity are concentrated in these areas. The four most historically significant areas of fertile plains are the Tsukushi Plain in northwest Kyushu (centered on the city of [[Kurume]], and stretching north to include [[Fukuoka]]/[[Hakata]]), the Kinai Plain (in which are situated the cities of [[Nara]], [[Kyoto]], and [[Osaka]]), the Nôbi Plain (in which [[Nagoya]] is located, and stretching south to [[Ise Bay]]), and the [[Kanto|Kantô Plain]] (home to [[Tokyo]] and an extensive surrounding area).
==Climate==
During winter, the prevailing winds are from the continent, bringing cold air east to Japan's western ([[Sea of Japan]]) coast. Moisture from the Sea of Japan falls chiefly on areas to the north and west of the major mountain ranges (e.g. the [[Hokuriku]] region, including the modern-day [[prefectures]] of [[Niigata prefecture|Niigata]] and [[Ishikawa prefecture|Ishikawa]], among others), while those areas to the south and east, i.e. on the Pacific Ocean side of the mountains (including Tokyo, the Kinai, and many other regions) experience far drier winters.
In summer, warm, moist winds come up from the south, bringing a rainy season towards the beginning of the summer, and, in many areas, oppressively hot and humid conditions beyond what might be expected for the latitude, given that all of Japan (with the exception of the Ryukyus, i.e. [[Okinawa prefecture]]) lies officially within the temperate zone. These conditions bring [[typhoon]]s, which threaten chiefly the Ryukyus up through the southern and eastern coasts of Kyushu and Shikoku, but the wet conditions also make this southern & eastern side of the mountains more conducive to greater agricultural yields.
The famous [[Kuroshio current]], a warm jetstream which brings warm water up from the tropics, contributes to this effect, while the [[Oyashio current]] brings nutrient-rich cold water down from Hokkaidô into the waters surrounding the [[Tohoku|Tôhoku]] region (the northeastern end of Honshû).
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==References==
*Conrad Shirokauer, Suzanne Gay, and David Lurie, ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage Learning (2013), 3-5.
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