or
Honshu is the largest
island of
Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of
Hokkaidō across the
Tsugaru Strait, north of
Shikoku across the
Inland Sea, and northeast of
Kyūshū across the
Kanmon Strait. It is the seventh
largest island in the world, and the second
most populous after
Java in Indonesia.
The island is roughly 1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 227,962.59 km², 60% of the total area of Japan. It is larger than the island of
Great Britain, and slightly larger than the state of
Minnesota. Its area has been expanding with
land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north, but global
sea level rise have diminished these effects. Honshū has 5,450 km of coastline.
Mountainous and
volcanic, Honshū has frequent
earthquakes (the
Great Kantō earthquake heavily damaged
Tokyo in September 1923); the highest peak is the active
volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m, which makes it the world's
7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the
Shinano River, Japan's longest. The climate is
temperate, but has marked difference between the eastern or southern (Pacific or Inland Sea coast) side, and the western or northern (Sea of Japan coast) side. A mountain range runs along the length of Honshū from end to end. In addition to Mt. Fuji, the
Japanese Alps are features of Honshū.
It has a population of 103,000,000 in 2005, (98,352,000 as of 1990; in 1975 it was 89,101,702), mostly concentrated in the available lowlands, notably in the
Kantō plain where 25% of the total population reside in the
Greater Tokyo Area, which includes
Tokyo and
Yokohama,
Kawasaki,
Saitama and
Chiba cities. Most of the nation's industry is located along the belt running from Tokyo along Honshū's southern coastal cities, including
Kyoto,
Osaka,
Nagoya,
Kobe, and
Hiroshima, part of the
Taiheiyo Belt.
The economy along the northwestern coast by the
Sea of Japan is largely fishing and agriculture;
Niigata is noted as an important producer of rice. The Kantō and Nōbi plains produce rice and vegetables. Yamanashi is a major fruit-growing area, and Aomori is famous for its apples.
Eminent historical centers include
Kyoto,
Nara, and
Kamakura.
The island is nominally divided into five regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. The regions are
Chūgoku (western),
Kansai (southern, east of Chūgoku),
Chūbu (central), Kantō (eastern), and
Tōhoku (northern). Some smaller islands are included within these prefectures, most prominently
Ogasawara Islands,
Sado Island,
Izu Oshima and
Awaji Island.
The prefectures are:
Honshū is connected to the islands of Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku by
tunnels or
bridges. Three new bridge systems have been built across the islands of the Inland Sea between Honshū and
Shikoku (
Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge and the
Ohnaruto Bridge;
Shin-Onomichi Bridge,
Innoshima Bridge,
Ikuchi Bridge,
Tatara Bridge,
Ohmishima Bridge,
Hakata-Ohshima Bridges, and the
Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridge;
Shimotsui-Seto Bridge,
Hitsuishijima Bridge,
Iwakurojima Bridge,
Yoshima Bridge,
Kita Bisan-Seto Bridge, and the
Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge), and the
Seikan Tunnel connects Honshū with
Hokkaidō.
Extreme points
The northernmost point on Honshū is the tip of the
Shimokita Peninsula in
Ōma, Aomori. At the southern extreme lies Cape Kure in
Kushimoto, Wakayama. The island is bounded on the east by Todogasaki in
Miyako, Iwate and on the west by Bishanohana in
Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. It spans more than eight degrees of latitude and 11 degrees of longitude.
