Japan is an island nation located off the east coast of the Asian continent. The archipelago of about 7,000 islands runs almost 3,000km northeast to southwest. The total land area is just under 388,000 square kilometers, roughly equal in size to the US state of Montana or 1.5 times the land area of the UK. Only about 16% of the land is fertile, the rest being mostly forest-covered mountains. Japan is located on the western rim of the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire" and as a result suffers from frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. There are four main islands - Honshu, often referred to as the mainland, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Read more about the regions of Japan.

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