Chapter 1 Land and Climate

1. Land
2. Climate
3. The Great East Japan Earthquake

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Mt. Fuji in autumn, viewed from Fujikawaguchiko Town, Yamanashi Prefecture. Standing 3,776 meters above sea level, Mt. Fuji is Japan's highest peak.

1. Land

Japan is an island nation situated off the eastern seaboard of the Eurasian continent in the northern hemisphere. The islands form a crescent-shaped archipelago stretching from northeast to southwest parallel to the continental coastline with the Sea of Japan in between. The country is located between approximately 20 degrees to 45 degrees north latitude and stretches over 3,200 kilometers. It consists of the main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa, and more than 6,800 smaller islands of varying sizes. Its surface area totals approximately 380,000 square kilometers, a figure equivalent to 0.3 percent of the global land mass.

Since the Japanese archipelago is located in a zone of relatively young tectonic plate movement, it is particularly prone to various physiographical phenomena. Therefore, the number of earthquake occurrences is quite high there, and so is the proportion of active volcanoes. The land is full of undulations, with mountainous regions including hilly terrain accounting for about three-quarters of its total area. The mountains are generally steep and are intricately carved out by ravines. Hilly terrain extends between the mountainous regions and the plains.

Forests account for the largest portion of the nation's surface area. There are approximately 250,000 square kilometers (which equates to 66 percent of the nation's surface area) of forests, followed by approximately 50,000 square kilometers of farmland (13 percent). Together, forests and farmland thus cover approximately 80 percent of the nation. There are approximately 20,000 square kilometers of building land (5 percent).

2. Climate

The Japanese archipelago has a temperate marine climate, with four distinct seasons, an annual average temperature of between 10 to 20 degrees centigrade, and annual precipitation of 1,000 to 2,500 millimeters. Japan typically experiences hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. The topography of Honshu, however, features a series of major mountain ranges running from north to south. Because of this feature, the northwest monsoon in the winter brings humid conditions with heavy precipitation (snow) to Honshu's Japan Sea side but comparatively dry weather with low precipitation to the Pacific Ocean side. In summer, the winds blow mainly from the southeast, giving rise to hot and humid weather. Another unique characteristic of Japan's climate is that it has two long spells of rainy seasons, one in early summer when southeast monsoon begins to blow, and the other in autumn when the winds cease. From summer to autumn, tropical cyclones generated in the tropical seas develop into typhoons and hit Japan, sometimes causing storm and flood damage.

3. The Great East Japan Earthquake

1. Overview

On March 11, 2011, a strong earthquake of a magnitude of 9.0 occurred in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of northeastern part of Japan at 2:46 p.m. The earthquake, which was followed by huge tsunami, devastated a wide area of Tohoku Region, or northeastern Japan, and its surrounding regions particularly in the Pacific coastal area, and took a heavy toll of lives estimated to be more than 20 thousand. In Tokyo, the intensity of the quake was observed at level 5-upper on the Japanese scale, but there were only light damages. The level of magnitude 9.0 was the largest ever among the earthquakes having occurred in Japan since measurement was started, and it was the fourth largest in the world since 1900.

Since the occurrence of the earthquake, the Government of Japan has been taking broad-ranging, prompt measures to recover normal life of the people in the area and to reconstruct infrastructure and socio-economic functions as soon as possible. As the first step immediately after the earthquake, the Government established the Emergency Disaster Response Headquarters headed by the Prime Minister. On March 17, the Headquarters for Special Measures to Assist the Lives of Disaster Victims was established to provide utmost support for the people struck by the disaster. On April 11, Reconstruction Design Council in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake was organized to propose a grand reconstruction design of the future of the disaster stricken areas.

2. Damages

The earthquakes and the huge tsunami that followed caused heavy casualties and huge damages in the northeastern area and its surroundings, such as Kanto Region. As of July 11, the confirmed number of deaths reached 15,550 persons, with the missing 5,344 and the injuries 5,688. There were 99,236 displaced persons living in evacuation centers nearby.

Lifelines of Tohoku Region were shattered in broad areas, and supplies of electricity, gas and water were halted. Infrastructure such as road, railways, and airports were also heavily damaged. In Fukushima Prefecture, accidents took place in the nuclear power plant due to the power loss of the cooling system, causing emergency situation. In consequence, people living in the surrounding of the power plant areas within approximately 30 km radius were evacuated.

Public utilities and the transport have been promptly recovered with concerted efforts of all parties. Sendai Airport came back into operation in mid-April, while Tohoku Shinkansen Line (High-speed service railway between Tokyo and Aomori) recovered its service for the entire line in late April.

3. Assistance from Overseas

The people and the Government of Japan received an enormous number of warm messages of encouragement, solidarity and condolences from citizens and governments of numerous countries, many international organizations and nongovernmental organizations all over the world. They also provided emergency supplies, rescue operations, donation funds, and various kinds of supports.

The Japanese people have been grateful to all the messages and the supports given from many parties all around the world. Taking this opportunity, the staff of the Statistics Bureau wish to express our appreciation to the peoples, governments and organizations for providing heartfelt support and friendship.