Japan Exports

According to National Geographic MapMaker (mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org), the following items are major exports of JAPAN: apples, appliances, automobiles and their parts, chemicals, décor and furniture, electronics, iron and steel products, machinery, melons, oranges, peaches, pears, pharmaceuticals, plastic, processed food, rice, seafood, semiconductors, ships, software, sugar beets, tools, ume plums, and various vegetables. According to the International Monetary Fund (data.imf.org), countries and territories buying and importing most of those exports (February 2017 statistics) include the United States (top importer), China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Germany, Australia, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Canada, India, the United Arab Emirates, and Belgium.

Flag of Ishikawa, Japan

This blue, modernistic flag flies over Ishikawa Prefecture in JAPAN. Ishikawa is located on Honshu island's northern and northwestern coast. The white design is a modern Kanji character symbolizing Ishikawa, and the bluish background represents air, clean rivers, and the sea. This prefecture is home for over 1.15 million residents and is located along the Sea of Japan coastline.

Original image credit (without shadow): Vexilla Mundi.

Japan Endangered Species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for JAPAN in eastern Asia lists 35 critically endangered species and 104 endangered species. Japan's critically endangered species include Abe's Salamander, Baer's Pochard duck, Chinese Puffer fish, Kikuzato's Brook Snake, Okinawa (Pryer's) Woodpecker, Sakhalin Taimen salmon, and Yanbaru Whiskered Bat. Endemic to Japan, the Yanbaru Whiskered Bat species lives in the Ryukyu Archipelago on only three islands: Okinawa, Amami-Ōshima, and Tokunoshima. This bat species is so rare that it may have been first discovered in 1996.

Endangered species include the Amami Tip-nosed Frog, Anderson's Crocodile Newt (Ryukyu Spiny Newt), Crested Ibis, Ishikawa's Frog, Japanese Night Heron, Japanese White Stork, and Star Magnolia.

Extinct Species of Japan

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for JAPAN in eastern Asia, there are officially 13 extinct species and possibly more. Snails comprise the largest number of extinct species in Japan. The following non-snail species are extinct: Bonin Grosbeak, Bonin Thrush, Bonin Wood Pigeon, Japanese Sea Lion, and Ryukyu Wood Pigeon. These are Japan's extinct snail species: Gastrocopta chichijimana, Gastrocopta ogasawarana, Hirasea planulata, Lamellidea monodonta, Lamellidea nakadai, Vitrinula chaunax, Vitrinula chichijimana, and Vitrinula hahajimana.

Country Flags with Suns

Various countries have suns on their flags. They are ANTIGUA and BARBUDA, ARGENTINA, KAZAKHSTAN, KIRIBATI, KYRGYZSTAN, MALAWI, NAMIBIA, NEPAL, NORTH MACEDONIA (known as Macedonia or FYROM in 2015), The PHILIPPINES, RWANDA, and URUGUAY. Comprised of a main island and smaller islands, TAIWAN (Republic of China) is not exactly a country but it also has a sun on its flag. The sun on Taiwan's flag is featured in the top-left corner on top of a blue rectangle. The flags of BANGLADESH and JAPAN both feature a central red circle representing the sun. PALAU's yellow circle actually represents the moon!

Himeji-jo Castle

Post #3 of Castles Week
Located in the southwestern part of JAPAN's Honshū island, Himeji-jo at the heart of Himeji city in Hyōgo Prefecture is a 17th-century hilltop castle with a recent renovation. Nicknamed white heron for its pristine white plastered walls, Himeji-jo boasts over 80 buildings in the castle complex and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to more information, this UNESCO webpage features an image gallery. Visitors and map readers will find Himeji-jo located to the west of Kobe and Osaka cities.

Peninsulas of Japan

JAPAN is known for being an archipelago with large and small islands, and therefore the Land of the Rising Sun country has plenty of peninsulas attached to some of its islands. From north to south, peninsulas attached to the main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu are featured in the map above and text below.

Peninsulas on Japan's northernmost large island, Hokkaido, include Oshima in the south, Shakotan in the northwest, a unicorn horn-shaped Shiretoko peninsula in the northeast, and Nemuro in the east with Nosappu-misaki (Cape Nosappu) as Hokkaido's easternmost tip. Known in the English language as Cape Soya, Sōya-misaki is the northernmost point of Hokkaido and serves as the tip of “Kitami” peninsula. I have Kitami surrounded by quotation marks because it does not have an official name, but the Kitami Mountains are located on this peninsula. The city of Kitami is located just southeast of the namesake peninsula. “Erimo” peninsula is also in quotation marks; several research papers call this southeasterly peninsula Erimo and there is an Erimo town, but maps and atlases do not usually show the word Erimo.

Japan's largest island, Honshu boasts many small and large projections and peninsulas jutting out into the Pacific Ocean to the east and Sea of Japan to the west. Honshu's peninsulas include Atsumi, Bōsō (Boso), Chita, Izu, Kii, Miura, Noto, Oga, Oshika, Shimokita, and Tsugaru. Bōsō and Miura are near Yokohama city, while Atsumi and Chita are near Nagoya city. More specifically, Atsumi is west of Toyohashi city and includes communities such as Akabane, Atsumi (of course), and Tahara.

Southwest of Honshu island, Shikoku boasts multiple peninsulas, but many of them do not have official names. Sadamisaki is a narrow peninsula jutting from Shikoku's western area. Capes include Ashizuri-misaki and Muroto-misaki to the east, both on the southern coast. Muroto-misaki and the larger “Muroto Peninsula” boast shrines and temples such as Hotsumisaki-ji, created by the founder of Shingon Buddhism: Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi).

Finally, Kyushu island in southwestern Japan has a relatively jagged coast with small peninsulas. Ōsumi and Satsuma are two peninsulas on the southern coast. Nagasaki, Nishisonogi, and Shimabara are three neighboring peninsulas attached to a larger southward extension, located in the northwestern area of Kyushu. Nagasaki city is located at the junction of Nagasaki and Nishisonogi peninsulas, west of isahaya city and the Shimabara peninsula.

Oshima Peninsula

Bordering the world's largest ocean, Oshima Peninsula is located west of the Pacific Ocean in northern JAPAN. More specifically, Oshima Peninsula is the southwestern extension of Hokkaidō, Japan's second-largest island after Honshū (south of Hokkaidō). Two smaller peninsulas - Matumae Peninsula to the southwest and Kameda Peninsula to the southeast - are part of Oshima; together, these peninsulas form an upside-down Y shape jutting southward from Hokkaidō. Oshima Peninsula is surrounded by water on its west, east, and south coastlines. Sea of Japan is west of Oshima, the Uchiura Bay in the Pacific Ocean is east, and Tsugaru Strait is south. Connecting the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō and Honshū islands. Small islands such as Okushiri-tō and Ō-shima are found in the Sea of Japan, west of the peninsula. Esachi, Kaniisco, Matsumae, Minamikayabe, Mori, Nanae, and Shikabe are some communities on Oshima Peninsula. A word you may recognize from a notorious event several years ago - Fukushima - is a town on the peninsula southern coast. This town is not the location of 2011's Japanese nuclear disaster. Instead, the town of Ōkuma in Fukushima Prefecture on Honshū island is where an earthquake and tsunami led to explosions and meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Former Names of Capitals

Quite a few capitals previously had different names. The following is a list of many, definitely not all, of the capitals that had different names in the past — they are categorized by continent.

AFRICA
Bujumbura, BURUNDI's former capital (Gitega is the new capital since 2019), was called Usumbura until 1962.
N'Djamena, CHAD's capital, was called Fort Lamy until 1973.
Kinshasa, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO's capital, was called Léopoldville until 1966.
Banjul, the capital of GAMBIA, was named Bathurst until 1973.
Antananarivo, MADAGASCAR's capital, was named Tananarive until 1975.
Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE's capital, was named Lourenço Marques until Mozambique's independence in 1976.
Harare, ZIMBABWE's capital, was named Salisbury until 1982.

ASIA
Tbilisi, GEORGIA's capital, was known as Tpilisi (Georgian) or Tiflis (Russian) until 1936.
Jakarta, INDONESIA's highly-populated capital, was known as Sunda Kelapa, then Jayakata, then Batavia, then Djakarta from 1949 to 1972.
Tokyo, JAPAN's capital located on the island of Honshu, was previously named Edo until 1868.
Astana, KAZAKHSTAN's capital, was known as Tselinograd, then Aqmola.
Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN's capital, was named Pishpek until 1926 and Frunze until 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ulaanbaatar, MONGOLIA's capital, was known as Ugra until 1924.
Dushanbe, TAJIKISTAN's capital, was called Dyushambe until 1929 and received the name Stalinagrad until 1961.
Ankara, TURKEY's capital, was called Angora until 1930.
Ashgabat, TURKMENISTAN's capital, was called Poltoratsk from 1919 until 1927.

EUROPE
Belgrade, SERBIA's capital, was known as Singidunum in ancient times.
Podgorica, MONTENEGRO's capital, was known as Birziminium before the 11th century, Ribnica during the Middle Ages, and Titograd from 1946 to 1992. The capital possessed the name Podgorica in 1326 until 1946, resuming in 1992.

SOUTH AMERICA
Sucre, one of two capitals of BOLIVIA and named in honor of Antonio José de Sucre, was called Chuquisaca until 1825.

Credit goes to the New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition, which conveniently listed former capital names.

Basics About Honshu

The seventh largest island in the world, Honshū is JAPAN's largest island. Cities like Tokyo and Kawasaki are located on Honshū, while Mount Fuji is located not too far west/southwest of Tokyo. The Sea of Japan is southeast of Honshū, while the North Pacific Ocean lies to the east.

Ten Largest Islands in the World

The 10 largest islands in the world are as follows:
1. Greenland (Denmark) - 840,000 square miles
2. New Guinea (Indonesia & Papua New Guinea) - 305,000 sq. mi.
3. Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, & Malaysia) - 286,000 sq. mi.
4. Madagascar - 226,656 sq. mi.
5. Baffin Island (Canada) - 195,928 sq. mi.
6. Sumatra (Indonesia) - 164,000 sq. mi.
7. Honshu (Japan) - 88,000 sq. mi.
8. Great Britain (United Kingdom) - 84,400 sq. mi.
9. Victoria Island (Canada) - 83,896 sq. mi.
10. Ellesmere Island (Canada) - 75,767 sq. mi.

*** Source for area data: Langenscheidt's Pocket World Atlas. Hammond World Atlas Corporation, 2002.

Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

As you may know, JAPAN experienced a colossal 8.9 magnitude earthquake which resulted before a massive tsunami in the Pacific Ocean. The 5th largest earthquake in the world and the largest in Japan, this catastrophe obviously caused widespread damage throughout that region. There are many ways to help: an example of a great organization is the American Red Cross (link opens in new window). A neat resource is the Google Crisis Response (link opens in new window). I sincerely hope that anyone affected by this earthquake and tsunami can rebuild their lives. -The GeoWhiz

Japan

JAPAN (Nippon) is located in Eastern Asia and is comprised of four major islands and many smaller islands. Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku are Japan's main islands. Surrounding water bodies include the Sea of Japan (west), Philippine Sea (south), and the North Pacific Ocean (east/southeast). The capital of Japan is Tokyo (Tōkyō), and the metropolitan area has a population over 35,600,000! The currency is the Japanese Yen (¥), and its ISO 4217 currency code is JPY.