Honshu
| Honshu | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Waters | Pacific Ocean , Sea of Japan | |
| Geographical location | 36 ° N , 139 ° E | |
|
||
| length | 1 300 km | |
| width | 240 km | |
| surface | 227,942.41 km² | |
| Highest elevation |
Fuji 3776 m |
|
| Residents | 100,000,000 (2000) 439 inhabitants / km² |
|
| main place | Tokyo | |
Honshū ( [ hoɴɕuː ] , Japanese 本州 'main province '; in German also Honschu ) is the largest island in Japan and is also known as the Japanese “heartland”. In the north it is separated from the island of Hokkaidō by the Tsugaru Strait , in the south by the Seto Inland Sea from the island of Shikoku . In the southwest lies the island of Kyūshū , separated from Honshū by the Shimonoseki Strait .
The Japanese capital Tōkyō is on Honshū .
Geography and climate
Honshū is about 1300 km long and between 50 and 240 km wide. The area is 227,942.41 km², which corresponds to about 60% of the total area of Japan. The coastline is 5450 km long. The highest point on the island and in Japan is Mount Fuji with a height of 3776 m. The Honshū region also includes 3193 other islands with a total area of 3184 km².
The area is particularly fertile in the Kantō plain because there are many rivers flowing there. The climatic conditions range from the cool northern tip of the island to subtropical zones in the south.
Honshū is mountainous and seismically very active, volcanic eruptions and above all earthquakes occur frequently. The Great Kantō earthquake in September 1923 caused Tōkyō severe damage, and in 1995 an earthquake in Kōbe killed 6,400 people. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake , particularly the subsequent tsunami, claimed over 15,000 lives and led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster .
Administration and population
The island is divided into 34 prefectures including the urban district of Tōkyō and divided into the following five regions :
- Chūgoku (in the west)
- Kinki (in the Midwest)
- Chūbu (in the center)
- Kantō (in the east)
- Tōhoku (in the north)
The population was around 100 million in 2000 (1975: 89 million) and is particularly concentrated in the lowlands. 25% of the total population of Honshū live on the Kantō plain in and around Tōkyō and Yokohama . The second major metropolitan area is Kansai further west , to which the cities of Kyōto , Osaka and Kobe belong. The other major cities on the island are Hiroshima , Akita and Nagoya . After Java , Honshū is the island with the second largest population on earth.
Transport links
Honshū is connected to the rest of the main Japanese islands by tunnels or bridges . Three new bridge systems were built across the Seto Inland Sea between Honshū and Shikoku , of which the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge to Awaji Island is the suspension bridge with the longest cantilevered central section in the world. The Seikan tunnel connects Honshū with Hokkaidō .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 島 面積 . (PDF; 136 kB) (No longer available online.) Kokudo Chiriin , October 1, 2015, archived from the original on June 15, 2016 ; Retrieved August 1, 2016 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Japan Statistical Yearbook 2014 , Table 1-1: Islands, Area and Length of Coastline of National Land , Online ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( MS Excel ; 29 kB)
