Editing Japanese archipelago (section)

==Geography==
{{Main|Geography of Japan}}
{{See also|Prefectures of Japan}}

The archipelago consists of 14,125 islands<ref name="recount">{{cite web |title=Recount with digital map leads to doubling of listed Japanese islands |website=Japan Times |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/15/national/japanese-islands-recount/ |date=Feb 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230215042328/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/15/national/japanese-islands-recount/ |archive-date=Feb 15, 2023}}</ref> (here defined as land more than 100 m in circumference), of which 430 are inhabited.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Islands in Abundance |magazine=Look Japan |year=1997 |volume=43 |issue=493–504 |publisher=Limited |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHi6AAAAIAAJ&q=%226%2C852+islands%22 |page=35 |access-date=2015-10-18 |archive-date=2023-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226040609/https://books.google.com/books?id=NHi6AAAAIAAJ&q=%226%2C852+islands%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> The five main islands, from north to south, are [[Hokkaido]], [[Honshu]], [[Shikoku]], [[Kyushu]], and [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]].<ref name="main-islands-japan" /> Honshu is the largest and is referred to as the [[Mainland Japan|Japanese mainland]].<ref>[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Japanese+Archipelago "Japanese Archipelago"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919195043/https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Japanese+Archipelago |date=2018-09-19 }}, [[TheFreeDictionary.com]], retrieved 24 June 2013.</ref>

The topography is divided as:
*Hokkaido, Honshu, and Shikoku and its surrounding islands;
*Kyushu and the [[Ryukyu arc]], which is composed of the Ryukyu Islands and other surrounding islands;
*Eastern part of Hokkaido and the [[Kuril Islands]];
*[[Nanpō Islands]] and the [[Izu Peninsula]] (part of [[Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc|Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc]]).

===Image gallery===
{{Gallery
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|File:Ogasawara islands.png
 |The [[Nanpō Islands]] stretch to the southeast and are administered by the [[Tokyo Metropolis]].|File:Location_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands.JPG
 |The [[Ryukyu Islands]], which stretch towards [[Taiwan]], are administered by [[Kagoshima Prefecture]] and [[Okinawa Prefecture]].|File:Japan_Relief_Map_of_Land_and_Seabed.png
 |Seabed relief map, showing surface and underwater terrain and islands such as Minami-Tori-Shima, Benten-jima, Okinotorishima, and Yonaguni}}